Cities Should Not Offer Free Wi-Fi

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With the rise of the Internet of Everything and M2M, municipal wireless networks are becoming as much about a connected trash can as they are about the end user streaming YouTube on their smartphone. Community Wi-Fi holds a lot of potential for enabling a functional connected future, where the barriers between private and public Wi-Fi blur to the extent that both humans and machines are able to be constantly and reliably connected. According to a much-hyped story in the Washington Post today, lobbyists representing the $178 billion wireless industry have been counteracting the proposal, with the primary detractors reportedly being AT&T, Intel, T-Mobile and Qualcomm. Having to pay for free wifi may have to cost billions of dollars, maybe even millions There will be an increase of taxes One of the major disadvantages of public WiFi lies in its inability to offer proper security to the users. The people who are in charge of offering free WiFi to the inhabitants of a city are able to see each and every website that you surf or each and every click that you make on the Internet. Our use of public Wi-Fi hotspots is growing. An Office of National Statistics survey showed 4.9 million people used them in 2010, up from 0.7 million people in 2007. A survey of more than 10,000 Internet users in over 20 countries by the Internet Society found that 83% of respondents agreed with the statement that “access to the Internet should be considered a basic human right.” It can provide internet access for people that could not otherwise afford it, help tourists avoid crippling data roaming charges and navigate around a city, and drive shoppers into particular city centre areas. In 2009 the council lent Digital City, a company in which it had a 35% stake, the sum of £400,000 to install free Wi-Fi across the whole town; the firm

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