Not waiting for OneCommunity or anyone else, Norm starts talking to his neighbors:

I’ve discussed with several of my neighbors that a few of us can each get DSL and offer WiFi from our homes and effectively cover the street with a few access points like mine, offering WiFi to everyone on the street for a total of under $100 per month. As there are probably over 20 homes on this street, the cost per home would be $5. But our signal would cover the blocks to the East and West, and at the end on Forest Hill, adding 40 or more additional homes to the cloud, which could reduce costs per home to a few dollars per month. Even if only 25% of households agree to pay and pay, the cost per household would still only be around $5/month. That is a doable strategy for taking East Cleveland WiFi, which we are now pursuing.

WiFi Comes to Roxbury | REALNEO for all

With a disclaimer at the top:

It was only a matter of time.

Chicago canceled its city hall issued muni-wi-fi project.

San Francisco’s deal with Earthlink championed by Mayor Gavin Newsom is officially dead.

Houston’s city hall project is on the rocks.

Milwaukee’s project is in the emergency room.

Toledo’s city hall debacle with wi-fi has been well documented.

The list goes on. Of course, there are some good news stories. Philadelphia’s project has caught flight and its first mover status will probably give the city of brotherly love more time to get the effort right sized. Google’s philanthropy has made a difference in the Silicon Valley metropolitan area.

For more than three years I have attempted to articulate how and why City-hall based (or legislatively directed) wi-fi deployments face nearly insurmountable sets of challenges. Let’s start with the reality that there is no sustainable business case. To be sure, there is a broad public policy imperative to provide capacity to the public to be able to access the Internet. There are profound and compelling services and priorities that demand that the public be able to access services in their community centers, health care and legal aid clinics, neighborhood churches, coffee shops, public parks, schools, and libraries. But the failure and near certain demise of the first wave of city-hall driven muni-wireless projects can’t come too soon.

Bytes From Lev: Muni-Wireless is Dead! Long Live Community-Based Portfolios of Rich Application Wireless Services

A link from Doug Nagy:

“Before we went there, I think the prevailing opinion in the commercial sector was that these areas had no money or interest in their services. That turns out not to be the case at all,” he says.

Now that Vinton is online, the group turns its attention, resources and hardware to the next destination. A recent grant from the Ohio Governor’s Office of Appalachia means that up to three more towns can be moved across the digital divide.

“It’s not just about connectivity,” Escovitz muses. “It’s about what kinds of resources and opportunities we’re able to bring to a community.”

onCampus, OSU’s Newspaper for Faculty and Staff - Article

Recently I’ve commented here at BFD about my weekends in West Park. I wanted to give props to two businesses I discovered that are doing their best to make life more livable there.

Maytag Turbo Laundry - a couple of weeks ago our washer gave out so I headed over to West 117th & Linnet Ave., where they’re located, to wash a couple loads. It’s clean, safe and has FREE wi-fi to boot so I was able to surf and sud. You can learn more by visiting their website.

Rockin Ritchies @ 10400 Lorain Ave. - A fun little coffee shop which is located in what I assume was an old bar. No wi-fi but they do have 2 computers for surf and sipping. The website is down but their hours are M-TH 8am-12am, F 8am-3am, SAT 9am-3am, and SUN 3pm-12am.

Not to mention all the great food starting at West 117th & Lorain Ave. heading west. But that’s a whole other post.

Following up on this post re: “Cleveland will be recognized as a city of technology”, for all the work of OneCommunity and being an Intel digital community, we aren’t considered one of the most connected cities in the world. We aren’t even mentioned in the list of American cities in #7.

How does DailyWireless.com describe the #1 city in the world?

When it comes to broadband penetration, South Korea is the world leader with an 83% penetration rate. This is in part due to the full blown broadband revolution that has been taking place in Seoul for the past 8 years.

Seoul is full of Internet cafés, wireless hotspots and gaming areas (called “pc baangs”) making it the ideal city to use the Internet on the go. In most areas, a pc baang can be found on every corner…

Internet access in Seoul is extremely cheap, averaging around $20 per month for a 10Mpbs connection — that’s more than 4 times as fast and half the price of the average broadband connection in the United States…

Seoul’s current expansion plans include a $439 million project to add wireless Internet access to the subway trains. “The plan would be to create a WiFi network, and then charge roughly $20 per month for access.”

Here’s what other cities around the country are doing:

St. Cloud, Florida
St. Cloud’s network spans 24 square miles and is available to all users in the city free of cost. After 6 months, 77% of the cities inhabitants had registered for the service.

Mountain View, California
As part of their effort to “reach out to [their] hometown” Google is currently offering free wireless Internet to the city of Mountain View.

Tempe, Arizona
As one of the pioneering municipal WiFi cities in America, Tempe boasts an impressive 40 square mile WiFi network. Despite its grand implementation, access to the WiFi network requires a subscription and as such has seen slow integration with the cities residents. Currently only 15% of Tempe’s residents own a municipal WiFi subscription.

Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi employs a unique 147 square mile WiFi network designed primarily for use by public works and public safety departments. The city is now saving a great deal of money in utility costs by reading meters digitally, police officers are able to do their jobs better by having instant access to various criminal mug shot databases and of course city employees are better able to telecommute to work from all across the city.

I’d say the bar is pretty high. What do you say?

The 10 Most Connected Cities in the World