Philadelphia now has about seven square miles covered with a wireless "mesh" network that provides free service during a pilot period. The nonprofit group "Wireless Philadelphia" is expected to get final approval from the City Council this spring that will allow EarthLink to use city-owned telephone poles to build out the network. Neff expects to blanket the city’s 135 square miles with high-speed Wi-Fi service by spring 2007. Then, multiple ISPs will be able to pay EarthLink to use the infrastructure and charge residents and small businesses roughly $20 a month to use it. Originally, the city planned to issue taxable bonds to pay for the network. Then, after issuing an RFP last April, EarthLink—looking to expand its business from dial-up service—came forward with an offer to build the roughly $15 million network at its own expense. Neff says the city has already invested roughly $750,000 in negotiating the deal.

Verizon and other telecom companies argue that public initiatives for broadband are generally unnecessary because most residents of larger cities and towns have alternatives from the private sector. "There’s no real argument that broadband isn’t available," says Verizon spokesman Eric Rabe, who adds that broadband prices have been falling. "For a city like Philadelphia to say this is just nonsense."

However, Neff feels strongly that "Wireless Philadelphia" will help bridge the "digital divide" in her city. Already, she adds, community groups in the poorest neighborhoods have started connecting to the network, which now runs at speeds of 1Mbps, slightly faster than DSL. Small businesses in the city have expressed enthusiasm for the project, although midsize and large businesses are not likely to use the network because they often require higher speeds and more security. Neff expects that the entire city will be covered by summer 2006.

With Philadelphia out of the starting gate, other cities and towns have rapidly been coming up with their own plans. (For more on this, see "Wi-Fi America," this page.) In San Francisco, city officials issued a formal RFP in December for a citywide network, although 26 vendors have already expressed interest in building the wireless system. Most notably, Google has garnered headlines with its offer to build the network at its own expense and provide Wi-Fi service for free in the city. Chris Vein, San Francisco’s executive director of telecommunication and information services, said the Wi-Fi project is part of an overall plan to bring technology to all San Franciscans. The plan includes providing computer equipment to those who need it along with education and training.