{"id":8722,"date":"2015-09-27T15:42:03","date_gmt":"2015-09-27T19:42:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=8722"},"modified":"2015-09-27T15:42:03","modified_gmt":"2015-09-27T19:42:03","slug":"targeting-free-wifi-to-those-who-need-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=8722","title":{"rendered":"Targeting free WiFi to those who need it"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am not usually a big believer in municipal broadband projects.<\/p>\n

I have been around the telecom industry long enough to remember government owned monopoly telecom carriers as the norm around the world. With few exceptions, governments are not known for customer service excellence.<\/p>\n

Similarly, municipal broadband projects have had spotty records. Think about our roads and water and you recognize the challenge. Municipalities tend to follow “just too late” maintenance and service expansion.<\/p>\n

An editorial in the Toronto Star<\/a> endorses a proposal “to eliminate an income-based \u201cdigital divide\u201d that hinders many of the poor from accessing information via high-speed Internet”, by bringing free WiFi to all Toronto Community Housing buildings, parks, civic squares, plazas and other public spaces.<\/p>\n

This proposal could be interesting, especially if the city works in cooperation with private sector partners who can be contracted to provide support, training and most importantly, maintaining service quality at the highest levels. The aspect I like the most is that it targets a specific problem: increasing connectivity for low income households. <\/p>\n

We need creative solutions to make sure that low income households have access to connected devices. School kids need computers with internet connections to be able to do homework at home – libraries and school computers simply aren’t enough. About 15% of Toronto’s households have no computer and have no broadband connection. Low cost (or free) connectivity is one part of the solution; we need to look at getting devices into these households as well.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, a proposal never got past the committee stage “in the face of loud opposition from a small lobby concerned about the health effects of WiFi signals.” Let’s hope that junk science doesn’t derail an important discussion of possible ways to bring digital equality to those who can’t afford conventional services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am not usually a big believer in municipal broadband projects. I have been around the telecom industry long enough to remember government owned monopoly telecom carriers as the norm around the world. With few exceptions, governments are not known for customer service excellence. Similarly, municipal broadband projects have had spotty records. Think about our …<\/p>\n

Targeting free WiFi to those who need it<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","two_page_speed":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTargeting free WiFi to those who need it • Telecom Trends<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I am not usually a big believer in municipal broadband projects. 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