Do you mean to tell me that muni wi-fi networks will actually cost money? I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you. Where's the free lunch we were promised?!

[see San Jose Mercury News story below]
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Municipal WiFi: A not-so-free lunch
by Sarah Jane Tribble
Mercury News
08/06/2007

It's been more than a year since Silicon Valley's Joint Venture Wireless Project first announced plans to build a regional wireless network, giving millions of local residents free access to the Internet. But that network won't be so free after all, and the area's millions of local residents may not really use it.

While initially the project was lauded as a way to give the masses affordable Internet, key organizers have gently shifted the focus of the network from serving residents, for free, to giving businesses and city governments wireless access, for a price. ...

But the increasing focus on dollars and cents reflects a trend nationwide: As cities strive to provide wireless Internet service, they're realizing it can't truly be free.

[Read the rest here.]