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Wi-Fi in the City

Photo by Cawi2001

In Greensboro, NC there is a day center for the homeless called the Interactive Resource Center. The IRC assists people who are homeless set up services to aid their job search: a voicemail account, an email account, a P.O. Box, and the like. These accounts, which most people do not even think about, make all the difference. Many homeless people do not have access to such things, and thus, even when they are in a position to get a job, their new employer cannot even find them.

I mention this to show how central Internet services like email have become to American daily life. Think about the job application process. Someone without regular Internet access would have a hard time getting a real full-time job. I wonder what it would take to start providing broadband all over most cities. Some of my friends who are Rhode Island natives have said it would be neat if Rhode Island took advantage of its small size and became the first state to provide broadband to its whole territory. To my tech friends, how much would it cost to set up enough airport bases to provide Wi-Fi to all of Providence?

Should Wi-Fi become more like a public utility, supervised by elected officials? Internet has become a major, sometimes even necessary, part of American daily life and the American economy. After the Boston Marathon bombing, officials asked people to open their home Wi-Fi networks to provide enough broadband for everyone trying to talk to their loved ones.

So, I ask, what is the future of Wi-Fi? Will it remain like telephone and cable service, a totally private subscription service? Or, as so many public parks provide free Wi-Fi, will it become something people demand of their local governments?

About the Author

Graham Sheridan is a second year candidate in the Master's in Public Affairs program here at Brown. He went to undergraduate school at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA and hails from Greensboro, NC.

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