Rural cities roll out muni WiFi

A study conducted by muniwireless.com in March 2005 found that 29  American cities have citywide public access and another 13 have hotzones within the city limits. Twenty-three cities have municipal or public safety WiFi networks and New York and Chicago are planning WiFi networks for government use. The cities with public access WiFi are mostly rural places like Chaska, Minn., and Linden, Texas, but major cities like Tempe, Ariz., Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Madison, Wisc., are planning citywide networks. Cities with public safety networks are also small and rural - New Orleans being a notable exception. Tempe is expected to start rolling out hotspots in the summer of 2005. The report is available as a PDF from muniwireless.com