New Orleans to Deploy Free Wi-Fi City Wide 363
Lawrence_Bird writes "The Washington Post is reporting that New Orleans will deploy a city wide wi-fi network with free public access. Much of the equipment has been donated, but New Orleans will own and operate the network. Interestingly, they are only able to do this while a state of emergency remains in place as technically their planned 512Kbps service violates state law prohibiting municipalities from offering access at speeds in excess of 144Kbps, a restriction the city plans on fighting even though they will eventually outsource the whole operation."
Why Does State Of Emergency Last So Long? (Score:4, Insightful)
This way consumers get to use the service first, and companies get to roll out their services without having to abide strict regulations and/or an actual committment.
Hmmmm...... (Score:4, Insightful)
Perhaps their priorities are a bit backward?
Re:They meant "free" WiFi (Score:5, Insightful)
There is no fundamental difference to me, and universal access to information is the kind of thing I would be proud to pay taxes for.
Re:Hmmmm...... (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, for the majority of us...it is a circular hell to rebuild. We want to rebuild homes..but, have to wait till FEMA sets new flood plain standards...have to see if you have to raise your house or no insurance. And we're waiting to see if we can get long term commitment to rebuild the levee system...to withstand CAT 5 storms...without that, not much use in rebuilding.
Funny...the politicos couldn't fall over each other fast enough for 9/11...but, sure don't seem to be too excited to help us down here.
Frankly, if we could get our fair share of royalties for letting all the oil/gas be mined on and off our coast...get the 40%-50% that other states do when natural resources like oil are harvested (many interior states)...revenue that we've not had, but, should have for years...we could easily take care of ourselves and build a system that would make Holland blush. It is money that is ours, and should be ours...but, we can't seem to get it out of congress.
Sorry...easy to get carried away on the soapbox...it is so frustrating down here...a total clusterfuck doesn't even come close to describing it...
What about the ISP's? (Score:2, Insightful)
New Orleans needs this. Phones are still out. (Score:4, Insightful)
Quoi? (Score:5, Insightful)
Last I checked, in this country, the government is composed of -- gasp -- citizens, not space aliens from Uranus. At what point did Americans forget the "of, by, and for the people" routine? Why should a state or federal authority be telling the citizens of a town that they can't do whatever they blinking well please as far as public works projects? So the _citizens_ get together and say, golly, we can all chip in ten bucks and we'll have a wonderful benefit for our community that is worth far more than ten bucks to each citizen.
What's next? Gee, sorry Podunksville, you can't build a public park with a toilet. You need to sell the land off to a private developer so you can have the privilege of paying to sit on the grass or take a leak.
I don't see how this is any different.
Re:Hmmmm...... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:They meant "free" WiFi (Score:5, Insightful)
And remember (Score:4, Insightful)
Yet it's going to do a "good job" running WiFi. One of these days, the starry-eyed true believers will come to the painful realization that "democracy" has no proven track record on keeping governments working for the people and that local governments are one of the last groups you'd want to trust to run your communication network.
Besides, let's just go ahead and put telescreens in our homes. It just blows my mind how anyone can in one breath whole-heartedly support government operation and/or ownership of the com. network and then complain about the Bush administration wiretapping us all a la 1984. Why not go ahead and put your toddler in a locked room with a dingo and then get self-righteously pissed off when your toddler gets mauled and eaten? Afterall, it's THEIR fault, right?
Bullshit. You give the government control over the com. network on that scale and when your precious civil liberties go out the window, you'll be one of the few victims of bad government to legitimately laughed at by succeeding generations. The government will assert its sovereignty and say, "it's our network, use it our way or get off." Then you'll look around and there won't be any competition because your tax dollars subsidize the network to the point that the private sector cannot compete.
All in the name of giving "poor" people (our poor are middle class by African standards) access to a network that all too often their volunary refusal to make use of their socialized education opportunities have rendered them incapable of exploiting.
Re:Free wi-fi is important (Score:5, Insightful)
And slightly OT, but I'm going to laugh very hard and very long when the first "Municipal Wi-Fi blocking content" story hits
well, with kids yeah. We have to protect the kids. And you know how irresposible some parents can be. So lets put a huge filter on porn coming down the pipe. Tax dollars shouldn't pay for porn anyway.
Oh, and smoking. Bad. Very bad. Lets ban any site that promotes smoking. Promotion of all things smoking over publicly financed wi-fi? I think not! You might as well just shove smokes in babies mouths.
What? This site offends the sensiblities of [fill in religious group/cult of choice]? Block them too. We're all fine, upstanding [christians, jews, muslims, hindis, scientologists] and there's no way our community should have to see this.
What? People are going to RELIGIOUS sites? Hasn't anyone heard of the seperation of church and state? If someone wants to cyber-pray let them pay for their own access.
Hate speech. Who doesnt' hate hate speech? Of course! Its gone. ("by the way, what is hate speech?" "Ah.. the devil's in the details")
Wal Mart? Do we really want our citizens helping keep that community killing, baby eating, spawn of satan corperation in business by allowing them to purchase cheap shit over our wi-fi? I think not! If you want to destroy mom and pop shops do it on your own nickel.
AM Radio (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Restriction? (Score:4, Insightful)
Duh! It's because someone was paid a nice chunk of change to put it there.
Re:Free wi-fi is important (Score:5, Insightful)
When will you anarcho-capitalists actually take economics 100.
Given
A) A service that has a near zero elasticity of demand in relation to price
B) Is infrastructure
(Things Fitting A&B: Roads, Water, Sewer, Power, phone, cable, electricity, gas)
You CANNOT deregulate, you CANNOT expect the "Free market" to ensure quality and low price.
Infrastructure doesn't follow the normal rules because it's something that should not be duplicated concurrently - imagine having two roads systems, or two seperate water systems, power etc - there isn't the space to do it and the costs are prohibitive. This prevents normal competitive practices of the free-market and favors large intrenched monopolies
Have you not been paying attention? power was deregulated in some areas - it resulted in artificially created roving blackouts to give the impression that demand exceeded supply so that price-gouging could occur.
Adam Smith himself said that capitalism needs enforced rules to keep all parties treating each other fairly - why can you not recognize this?
Priorities??????? (Score:4, Insightful)
-schools
-police
-electricity
-water
-sewage
I could go on, but you get the point.
-Ncik
Re:Hmmmm...... (Score:4, Insightful)
Do you know why you have to wait for FEMA? Because the government is the only organization stupid enough to offer flood insurance. No private company in the US offers "flood insurance". And, if the government did as it should, and got out of the flood insurance business, then my tax dollars would not be wasted on rebuilding your house in an obvious flood zone. You could just move to, you know, higher ground, and start rebuilding right away.
Sorry if this appears to be a flame...but it is the truth.
If we could get our fair share of royalties for letting all the oil/gas be mined on and off our coast...get the 40%-50% that other states do when natural resources like oil are harvested (many interior states)...revenue that we've not had, but, should have for years.Well, for one example, Alaskan oil is actually located within the physical boundaries of the State of Alaska. Last time I looked at a map, the Gulf of Mexico was outside of Louisiana/Mississippi territorial borders. So, I disagree, you don't deserver a penny in royalties--since you don't "own" the oil. For that matter, the State of Alaska shouldn't be profiting (because State Government's also don't own oil), but that is another question.
New Orleans WiFi (Score:2, Insightful)
Tuesday, November 29, 2005; Posted: 2:40 p.m. EST (19:40 GMT)
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- Hurricane-ravaged New Orleans is starting the nation's first free wireless Internet network owned and run by a major city, a move aimed at boosting the city's stalled economy.
Mayor Ray Nagin made the announcement at a late morning news conference.
Similar projects elsewhere have been stalled by stiff opposition from telephone and cable television companies aimed at discouraging competition from public agencies.
Nagin said the system started operation Tuesday in the central Business District and the French Quarter. It is to be available throughout the city in about a year.
The system uses hardware mounted on street lights to cover the city.
Most of the equipment was donated by three companies: Intel Corp., Tropos Networks and Pronto Networks.
The system will operate at 512 kilobits per second as long as the city remains under a state of emergency.
That will be slowed once the state of emergency is over -- that date has not been determined -- to 128 kps in accordance with state law, which restricts government-owned Internet service.
Re:They meant "free" WiFi (Score:3, Insightful)
Dude, your people control all three branches of government in the U.S. Sooner or later, you're gonna have to stop complaining about being oppressed by "arrogant, progressive . . . nerd[s]". You're not being hassled by the Man, you are the Man, now.
Re:They meant "free" WiFi (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Free wi-fi is important (Score:3, Insightful)
I give almost $100 extra a month in tithes to my church to be put into a fund marked for poor families at my church so they can have basic utilities (including a Christian ISP). Guess what? Recently, a guy who used the benevolence fund was found to be using crack -- AGAIN. He's getting cut out of the fund until he seeks help (which we will pay for). I'd rather see the really poor and disturbed get help from a charity that can monitor their progress than a government that wants to keep them poor.
Many of you can't/won't give to charity because you're spending 50% of your income at taxes of every level so some government official can keep doling out welfare. If they solved the problems of the poor and unforunate, we wouldn't need government. Better to keep them stuck.
Re:The disaster isn't over... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Hmmmm...... (Score:0, Insightful)
Re:What I want to know is . . . (Score:2, Insightful)
Um, simple. Not everyone has a computer. Worse, those who don't have a computer are likely to be poor. So, the poor are paying more taxes with no benefit.
Wait, I know what you're going to say: not everyone has a car, either. Right, but effective transportation does DIRECTLY lower the cost of consumption for everyone.
I'm having trouble making a similar argument for free wi-fi.
Re:Hmmmm...... (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, it is. The original intent of combining the words United and States was to promote competition between the individual States (countries) while still offering the citizens protection of their basic rights from tyrannical governments.
The States united under a central government that was set up in order to protect the citizens rights, not take from the many to give to the few. Every federal official had very select limited powers and could never trample on the basic human rights we are all born with.
The United States was not meant to be an insurance policy for those unwilling to save for a time of need.
For history alone, it is worth keeping.
I don't care about your past, I care about my future. If you want to save something for history sake, get a bunch of people to finance it voluntarily, not through the force of government.
do you realized how much comes into the US from our ports?
Do I care? The reason New Orleans continues to degrade is because our government decided to attempt to negotiate with mother nature. It failed. If New Orleans washed into the Gulf completely, there would still be a Mississippi for boats to move up and down. It has nothing to do with New Orleans or the businesses that are there, in fact, most of the income that flows into and out of the Mississippi is 70 miles or more away from the port. The port has a long history of being used for political manipulation (the Spaniards cut off the Americans as one of the first political uses of the port).
and we have a majority of the refineries down here. No one else seems to want them in their 'back yard'.
Actually, the refinery business is a monopoly enforced by the federal government. With more refineries, or better yet, fewer special-blends, we'd see lower gas prices. The companies that refine in New Orleans have a long history of lobbying to protect their businesses.
The devastation that occured is directly tied to the inept government that set the standards the insurance companies followed. These insurance companies knew that if they followed the government standards and something bad happened, they'd get bailed out by FEMA. That is what happened.
If you want to see New Orleans prosper, kick every government out. Allow companies to build where they want to and find ways to get insurance for their buildings. Get rid of taxes and business regulations for maybe 10 years and you'll see an explosion of businesses running your way.
For now, only vultures and those who like to tax and spend will make their way to New Orleans. Oh, and those who are lazy and love the government dole.