Making Public Wireless Networks Pay

An increasing number of local governments are getting into the business of providing Wi-Fi service to residents who want to access the Internet throughout a city or county. About 385 cities, communities, and counties in the United States have a wireless networking project, with most intended partially or wholly for residential use, according to a recently released report by Forrester Research. (Requires a subscription.)

But Forrester researcher Sally Cohen questions if the investment is worth the cost. Only 27 percent of all U.S. online households use Wi-Fi, and the majority of these users (76 percent) connect to a private Wi-Fi service in their home, not to a municipal or county network provided in, say, parks, libraries, commercial areas or other hot spots.

To make wireless networks a better investment, Cohen advises local governments to do some homework. This includes determining what percentage of residents want a wireless service, how much they may be willing to pay for certain services available on the network, if other services can piggyback on the network such as remote parking payment systems and traffic control video surveillance, and educating residents abut Wi-Fi to increase usage.

The Forrester report, however, doesn't discuss the controversy of local governments providing what telecommunications companies argue is a business that government has no place competing with the private sector.