December 30, 2009
In an hour long program featuring the likes of Cisco, Shutterfly, and Skype, Wired Towns had the opportunity to pitch the virtues — and the necessity — of public Wi-Fi.
The clip may be found here. The link: http://www.foxbusiness.com/search-results/m/27724529/free-wifi-coming-to-a-town-near-you.htm#q=wired+towns
I had fun with it. We hope to be back once we get started with our first major urban Wi-Fi Hot Zone.
By Marshall Brown
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Point of order here, by the way —
I have no idea where Fox Business News got the impression, either from reading information on this site, or in interviewing me beforehand that Wired Towns was at all interested in tapping into the $7.2 billion in NTIA or RUS funds to pay for free Wi-Fi. Wired Towns has never had any interest in applying for such funding. In a rapidly changing industry, such things take too long, and there is way too much in costs and red tape. We have no desire to rack up the legal and lobbying costs such applications would incur.
Clearly there was a preconceived agenda here. Sponsors, telcos, pay Wired Towns to build Wi-Fi networks, we build them.
Sponsored networks, such as the ones in Times Square, Rockefeller Plaza, and Union Square are free. That’s how the sponsors like it of course.
The larger networks we are planning for telcos should also be free to end users, in our view, with revenue deriving from advertising and roaming, and with premium (higher bandwidth services for businesses, say) services fee-based.
I very much appreciate that I was invited to speak, and enjoyed the experience, but everyone has an axe to grind. And don’t even get me started on The New York Times