Why municipal WiFi is an educational expense

I'm not big on large government-funded projects, whether at the federal, state, or local levels. In my experience, they just have a tendency to go awry. Of course, I live outside of Boston. Can you say Big Dig? However, one area in which municipalities (or better yet, public-private partnerships) can come through for education is municipal WiFi.

One of the biggest barriers to one to one computing initiatives (aside from cost, resource utilization, etc.) is the lack universal Internet access. As most of us know, without Internet access, student laptops are fairly expensive paperweights. Municipal WiFi ensures that all students have access to an educational resource second only to well-qualified teachers, whether they are provided a laptop or supply their own computing equipment.

Similarly, schools and libraries, as well as other municipal buildings, often invest substantial funds to build wireless networks. All too often, these projects involve a few personal routers positioned on top of file cabinets. As networks grow and utilization of the wireless access points increases, it quickly becomes apparent that a scheme like this is inadequate for educational institutions, especially secondary schools. A well-planned, fully-funded municipal rollout could leverage the latest technologies to maximize throughput and bandwidth and address security concerns as well.

While such a project would not be cheap, the cost could be shared among IT budgets for all schools, municipal government, and other community organizations that could benefit directly from "free" Internet access. YMCAs, youth centers, and libraries could all contribute in some way. The biggest draw, however, aside from permitting universal access in a city or town, would be the ability to "do it right." No more cheesy implementations, no more duplicated costs, no more inadequate access points. Go ahead, take your classes outside - they still have Internet access. In a remote part of the building? No problem, the whole town is covered. Want to work from home but can't stomach $45/month for cable? Encourage your teachers to live in town and they're all set. Want to stay in touch with parents? They now have access, too, regardless of financial barriers (I'm sure we could find enough aging computers lying around and toss in a cheap wireless card to give access to those who can't afford a computer).

We may find, in fact, that municipal WiFi actually ends up saving money. Aside from initial investment in equipment and rollout activities, Internet access costs can now be centralized and shared. Intelligent use of VPNs can address security and local groups can invest less money on a year to year basis on network infrastructure and focus more on equipment and curriculum that fully utilizes the new level of access. Will there be tax increases? Maybe, if the right kind of partnerships with local businesses or telcos can't be brokered. However, many citizens may actually see this as a tax credit when they can stop spending between $200 and $500 per year on Internet access.