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Berkeley weighs muni WiFi against muni fiber
By Larry Hendrick | July 29, 2006
Rather than spend money on building out a fragile, semi-working WiFi, Berkeley will look at the option of building out a fiber network to homes.Chris Mead, IT Director for City of Berkeley, gives the difference between the two as “cheap and quick” or “expensive and long-term,” but indicates the fiber has a potentially bigger payoff for the city.
The Technology Chronicles : Berkeley weighs muni WiFi against muni fiber:
It was close to midnight Tuesday when the Berkeley City Council got around to the very last item on its agenda, a seven-page memo that discussed the possibility of creating a city-wide wireless network such as the one proposed in San Francisco.
Berkeley resident Tom Hunt waited through the long meeting to argue that wireless Internet connections are far less reliable than fiber links. If the city wanted to spur local connectivity, he suggested, why not go all the way and promote a wired solution.
“If they put a lot of Google wireless on telephone polls you’ll have great access on your stoop,” Hunt said in a phone interview Friday, maintaining that wireless can only penetrate one or two walls before it looses its oomph.
Topics: WiFi |