I think we need free national wi-fi
 

First I want to say I do not wish to argue this as far as priority over other things we need. Doing good isn't a wasted effort just because you chose it over some other good you could be doing. I merely want to share my thoughts, intentions, and hopefully discuss possible implementation even if the conclusion is to not bother.

My reason for wanting this is simple, we are quickly becoming a society where lacking internet access is a cultural and societal handicap. I have already seen examples of social groups relying on things like facebook, twitter and other social networking sites to organize activities and those that cant get to them often left in the dust. Where people care more about getting your facebook info then your cell number when you first meet them.

Culturally we are becoming more and more net reliant. How many of us get most of our news from websites and forums, keep up on celebrities through twitter, and educate ourselves with wikipedia.

Someone lacking internet access will find it hard to socialize and make friends. They wont know what you are talking about when you reference an internet meme, they wont be able to get your twitter post about where you are meeting for drinks, they can't even discuss the latest webcomic update. Remember all of this is just how we are now, might be even more valuable 10 or 20 years from now. In fact, i bet it will be as needed as a phone is now. Partly because most likely it will be your phone

Now I bet you are asking, why not just free internet, why free wi-fi. Because look at where we are heading. Soon there will be more devices set up for wireless connection then wired. In addition creating networks that reach rural areas is easier this way and easier upkeep.

Another is removing a barrier of entry. This is designed to help the poor, while they would need a 300+ device to make use of this network that becomes alot more practical when they dont also need 40 dollar monthly internet/cell fees on top of it. Plus with how quickly people get new models snagging obsolete but working models will be very cheap.

Commercially this has two factors. First is that it keeps a constant competition. They know if they dick over their customers too much they can always opt for the free stuff so they will need to keep incentives to stick with it. Second part is you dont want direct competition. For bandwidth and our economy we want those that can afford to pay for it to continue to do so. This is handled rather easily by just making the network on the cheap. Have it be a step down from whats on the market. People are rather shallow and like their status so they will pay for the better internet if they can.

Best part is that stays true even after the free network is for all practical purposes as fast as it needs to be. People will still pay extra for that terrabit connection even if it only shaves a few seconds off their download time.

This seems solid. I mean, two generations ago our big infrastructure project was the national highway system and I think this serves a similar purpose.

Free city wide access is already available in a number of cities. Canada has declared internet access as a necessity for communication in modern standards, and we'll be seeing city wide free wifi in many more of the big cities soon, smaller cities following later.

[Canada has... issues... with internet lately, thanks to the duopoly we have of Bell and Rogers. [Each Province has two major providers that are pricegouging us, making these setups difficult.] Toronto has been trying off and on for about 2 years now with little success towards getting started. The US has at least 5 cities I can think of with wifi coverage for free.]

Edit: Also someone will be in to tell you why you're wrong later on those parts. I am not doing this again.

This is the exact reason why we can't have national wifi

-E-

There's two things here that's a major problem. One, lack of competition. Two, regulatory capture.

1) Lack of competition. In the US, we have AT&T buying up everything to license. This increases the barriers to entry. In order to use low band spectrum, you have to go through AT&T. This leads to higher prices, as described by Public Knowledge. Remember, one of the main reasons that broadband took off is because AT&T lost a courtcase against a competitor, where they had to free up the network they paid for in 2006. If we actually allowed the free market to reign, there would be more competitors to choose from.

2) The FCC is paid off to ignore problems of broadband and mainly vote for AT&T legislation. When they reclassified DSL as an information service, it basically set up the system of "AT&T on top" that we now have.

I'm not entirely familiar with Bell and Rogers, but the same instances apply as far as I see. It's why the net neutrality laws are not a good idea. If you had more people competing, it wouldn't matter what one huge monopolistic entity did. Yes, you can rage against metered billing, but the problems lie inherently with how you have a system rigged to be exploited

Related to Jagos' post:

http://consumerist.com/2011/05/fcc-c...r-comcast.html

Open Media, Canadian team for E-Justice: http://openmedia.ca/

Jagos this is why I said we need it. We need there to be an alternative, we need to push for this to exist. If the government wont assist then go around it. Do like Canada and start at city level who aren't as indentured to big business, or start up a charity group to raise money and build the infrastructure from ground up.

Most importantly show a proof of concept. Even if its just small scale if marked social improvement occurs others will follow if just to keep up

...

I'm trying. Really I am... But it's like you're not understanding exactly the reasons that the average person won't be able to push for national wifi. I'm not even going to get into the piracy issue where an IP address is a person, I'm just focusing on getting the big boys to stop thinking about shareholders and focus on the avenue of a new broadband service here in the US.

Well on the plus side, the national Wi-Fi we can't have because of our awful dystopia should get pretty sweet once we get Super Wi-Fi.

We already have national wi-fi, just go to your local Barnes and Noble, McDonald's, or library.

If you don't have one of those things, you probably live in an area that would not be part of a nationwide wi-fi network anyway.

true but these networks have very limited range, basically the inside of the building. Only very densely populated cities have enough overlap that much of it is wi-fi enabled.

To really get coverage measured in miles instead of feet you'd need a radio tower.

Technically we do have national wi-fi, any major cellphone company offers it. Its just very expensive and outside the reach of those below the poverty line.