ST. CLOUD, Florida -
More than a month after St. Cloud launched what analysts say is the country's first free citywide Wi-Fi network, residents in this 28,000-person Orlando suburb are still paying to use their own Internet service providers as dead spots and weak signals keep some residents offline and force engineers to retool the free system.
St. Cloud officials are spending more than $2 million on a network they see as a pioneering model for freeing local families, schools and businesses from monthly Internet bills. It also promises to help the city reduce cell-phone bills and let paramedics in an ambulance talk by voice and video to hospital doctors.
Several cities have Wi-Fi hotspots, but St. Cloud's 15-square-mile network is the first to offer free access citywide, said Seattle-based technology writer Glenn Fleishman, who runs a Web site called Wi-Fi Networking News. Other cities have large blocks of Wi-Fi networking, but it's not free. St. Cloud launched the network on a trial basis in May 2004 in a new division of town to help give businesses an incentive to relocate. After further exploring the benefits, officials decided to expand it citywide.
What they have so far -- a work in progress. Many residents have complained of low signals and trouble getting connected. But all this is unique to each individual environment.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/04/24/wifi.hiccups.ap/index.html
I say Congrats! to St. Cloud for testing the product for the rest of US cities are soon to follow.
