Free wi-fi sounds great. Can I get a pony with that?

Nothing is free. Somebody has to pay. Outsiders may not be aware that Philadelphia is facing a steady decline in population. Businesses and productive individuals have been streaming out the city because of things like a 5% wage tax and a 1% receipts tax on top of high property taxes and strangling regulations. They aren't leaving the city because there is no wi-fi. They are leaving because corrupt government forces have ruined the local economy and schools. Anything they touch withers under mismanagement, incompetence and corruption. Taxes and spending are out of control and the city controlled monopolies are in shambles. This is not the time to give Philadelphia bureaucrats another utility monopoly. To do so is to invite another Philadelphia Gas Works style scandal and doom the prospects for widespread, quality wi-fi services.

Philly already has a large number of privately owned hot-spots. Cheeper wi-fi gear is now making it possible for virtually any cafe, bar, hotel or bookstore to offer wi-fi to clients. Some offer open networks to attract customers, others charge for service.

Implementing socialist wi-fi will surely squash every entrepreneurial wi-fi effort in town. Service quality will be determined by politicians instead of customers. I would much rather pay a few bucks to entrepreneurs competing for my business, than reward the politicians who can't run a school or even remove snow

Instead of creating more monopolies and limiting customer choices, Philadelphians have a better way get better internet services. Its time to remove the monopoly protections granted to Comcast & Verizon. Politicians awarded these two companies 100% control of local broadband resulting in stagnant service levels and rising consumer costs, despite leaps in technology.

Lets open the doors to geeky entrepreneurs and say NO to government controlled internet. Say No to socialist wi-fi!

Free wi-fi sounds great. Can I get a pony with that?

How about a kangaroo?

Excellent and precise run-down of the other side of this argument, Jim, thank you! It sounds like you have personal experience of Philly's woes.

I agree, Jim, that "Its time to remove the monopoly protections granted to Comcast & Verizon." You do that so the field is as competitive as it is in Sydney, where a private company delivers the low-cost service, and I'll come out against the current Philly plan.

That, however, is not going to happen and private companies will continue spending millions to keep their oligopolistic high prices.

And I seem to have missed the part where you explain how "Philadelphians have a better way get better internet services."

The people in public housing will never be able to sit around Starbucks sipping lattes and surfing the Web. They can't afford the coffee, and they certainly can't afford the laptops.

I doubt that quality of service would be any more of an issue with the municipality than with private services, and the poor won't be getting any at all with Verizon - which is better? I think the idea that access to info on jobs, health, etc. would be useful in providing poorer people some upward economic mobility (Sen. Frist and others on the right agree).

Why focus on the right-wing. You failed to mention that the bill has much Democratic support and Rendell (D) acually plans to sign it.

>>On c|net, Frank Rizzo argues illogically that because Boston's "Big Dig" tunnel was a financial disaster, Philadelphia's wi-fi for the poor will be too.<<

Wow, I didn't realize Frank "I'm going to make Attila the Hun look like a faggot" Rizzo was still alive. Any position he takes is likely to be the wrong one.

Despite the fact that some conservative think tanks are skeptical, I don't see how this is a right wing vs. the poor issue. If it's being done with tax dollars then it needs to be justified as not being a waste of money, but a system like this could easily benefit everyone regardless of income level. It sounds like it's more a case of Verizon not liking their corporate feet being stepped on. And maybe they do have an argument that government shouldn't get into competition with them in the high speed internet marketplace. But on the otherhand, Verizon are a bunch of brainless turd burglers who are among the worst corporate citizens in America. I don't shed any tears for them. If they were half-way smart they'd move in, take the project over and do it themselves then find a way to make money off of it.

I will say that I'd much prefer to see this sort of WiFi expansion done on a private basis or by private charities than with public funds. Here in Austin private micro-ISPs have been very aggressive about getting free WiFi into all sorts of locations. They use it as a vehicle for advertising, the cost is fairly low, and people get free WiFi. It's a win-win situation and I don't see why the same model shouldn't be applicable everywhere.

Dave