New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has announced that the entire city of New Orleans will be blanketed by a free WiFi network within a year. This move is expected to boost the city’s economy that was all but destroyed from the Hurricane Katrina disaster.
Thanks to Intel Corp., Tropos Networks and Pronto Networks who donated most of the hardware necessary for the project, these hardwares will be mounted on top of street lights in order to cover the whole city.
The network will operate at a speed of 512 kilobits per seconds, until the city’s state of emergency is lifted, which will then drop to a 128 kilobits per seconds in accordance to state laws restricting government-owned internet services.
[via Engadget]
November 30th, 2005 at 12:29 pm
How much money did they piddle away on this? (not to say its not a good idea but I can think of better things to do)
December 1st, 2005 at 5:27 am
lololol, just a free porn raid waiting to happen. can you say illegal downloading? and who will be responsible for illegaly downloaded files? The city, and then what, lose more money.
idiots
December 1st, 2005 at 6:52 am
I bet all those left homeless by Katrina will be glad to be able to connect to wifi.
Oh, wait, they don’t have wireless devices to connect with. On second thought, they don’t have a pot to p*ss in, why do they care about wifi?
December 1st, 2005 at 9:03 am
Useless as scheisse if you ask me, no one has a home, much less a computer/wireless crap.
December 1st, 2005 at 11:54 pm
well ya its kool but ya know its probobly jsut a “screen” to steal more money from the people of Louisiana. I being a Katrina vic. and seeing the corrupsion of my parish (St. Benard) just forces me to never go back.
December 2nd, 2005 at 12:15 am
WTH, only 512kilobits? wow thats like dialup. 5kB a sec download how crappy
December 2nd, 2005 at 3:34 am
Then a drop to 128?? Asside from tourists being able to check their emails, what use exactly is this low speed going to be accieving? I could see some advantages with wifi handhelds and what not, but with downloads at sub 30kbps isn’t going to be a big attraction point to the city… Why not get the big corporations to donate money and relief effort supplies, with their lablels sponsoring them. That way they still get the credit they’re looking for, and they actually do something beneficial and could even boost the company’s image.
December 2nd, 2005 at 8:47 am
I smell a scam!
December 2nd, 2005 at 12:18 pm
First of all, its not mainly for the people who live there its mainly for it to attract attention so tourists will come back. “This move is expected to boost the city’s economy”
December 2nd, 2005 at 1:21 pm
Well I live in New Orleans and I think it;s a very good idea…considering that stuff is being donated to many “homless poeple” I lost my house and this actually gives me a chance to contiune my studies in school
December 2nd, 2005 at 4:59 pm
wee psp owners =p
December 2nd, 2005 at 7:33 pm
ok, am i to understand that instead of using that money to rebuild the city and the poor district. Now i understand this is the states, everyone is me first there no consern for anyone outside themselves. They’re giving shitty internet access, the middle class and up can uses their pdas. Well it is nice to know that even in a time of tradegy we can still be trendy.
Is would only happen in America.
December 3rd, 2005 at 1:04 am
Wrong city. Should’ve started with LA, SF, CH, or NY. Bad move.
December 3rd, 2005 at 6:26 am
They didnt really spend a lot of money setting it up… it says most of the hardware was donated by those three companies. And offering goverment-owned internet service is restricted to 128kilobits/second, and doesnt cost much to do so. I think it’s a good idea, I was in New Orleans last year and would have liked to be able to check my mail.
December 3rd, 2005 at 11:08 am
# Anonymous Says:
December 3rd, 2005 at 1:04 am
Wrong city. Should’ve started with LA, SF, CH, or NY. Bad move.
########################################
wtf is that supposed to mean?
how is new orleans the wrong city
its probbaly the best city in the country
its the city where the first movie thetare opened up
its the home of mardi gras, jaz and the best food in the world
if you wanna talk about the bad things such as crime
well thats in small pockets of the city.
majority of the murdersand crimetook plac ein the projects which are goign to all be closed and torn down and have low middle and upper class housiwing built on to them
we are also the home of the oldest farmers market
we are attracting hollywood
like 4-5 movie studios will build studios in the city and several sound stages in the city and in the surounding suburbs.
we seem to have got the poor people out of the city
most homes are fine
not all of the city was flodded
most of the flodding didnt happen in new orleans proper itself, but instead the surrounding suburbs
December 4th, 2005 at 2:25 am
Are ther laws restricting government internet in Canada?
December 4th, 2005 at 10:36 am
Chalmationnation: How does installing donated equipment steal money from the people? And what massive corruption are you seeing in St. Bernard Parish? I too am a Katrina victim from Chalmette and I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Most people don’t have a clear picture of what is going on in New Orleans right now. No one is in the streets starving right now. Some areas have people rebuilding, other areas are abandoned. Although the government will need money, it’s the money of the people themselves that is on the line. How can someone rebuild without the money to? It’s the people’s problem, not the government. However, the government can provide incentives for the people to return and for businesses to invest in the area. Citywide WiFi is a great incentive to bring businesses back and to help tourism.
By the way, 512kbits is 64KB and 128kbits is 16KB.
January 5th, 2006 at 3:31 am
NEW ORLEANZ ROCKz…IM COMMENT jux for da hell ob itt..!!! I HOPE N.O fix up sooon…(= byebye b0o
January 24th, 2006 at 11:50 am
i’m sorry, but i still feel this money could have been put towards something better. how about towards the sanitation department or public service to help get old, infested buildings torn down faster so the new buildings can be built already? or if it’s to encourage businesses to come back to new orleans, how about lowering certain business taxes to help companies get a head start on setting things up there? wifi isn’t the answer, and after nagin’s “chocolate factory” speech and saying “god was angry with black america and that’s why the hurricane happened”, i really don’t think he’s a good person to be in charge of seeing the city get on its feet again. toss him out! he isn’t making good decisions.
(note: yes, i’m creole/black.)
March 25th, 2006 at 11:04 pm
[Comment ID #471 Will Be Quoted Here]
You need to be kicked in the face, you whiney twat, oooh nooo free 512k internet, oooo it’s soo slow.