Smaller cities, such as Dayton, Ohio, and Tempe, Ariz., are also joining the Wi-Fi bandwagon. In Dayton, CIO Bill Hill decided in April 2004 that the technology was ready for a wireless mesh deployment in his city. But he, along with two city commissioners, wanted to make sure the network wouldn’t cost the city or taxpayers a cent. So he took his idea to local companies to see if there was an interest in helping the city out. There was. A Dayton ISP called DoNet is now working with P&R Communications, a local radio shop that installs radio gear, to build the mesh network. "My argument to the telcos is, Had you offered these services locally, there would have been no need to go forward," Hill says. "We had to do something because our needs were not being met by the telcos. They want to charge $59 to $79 a month. What poor person can afford that?"

The Legal Battle

Despite the clear-cut benefits, the road to municipal Wi-Fi or broadband is strewn with land mines. Just ask the rural town of Lafayette, La. Phone company BellSouth filed a lawsuit last year against Lafayette and its utility systems, alleging that the municipality used incorrect procedures to issue bonds to pay for a plan to wire the city with fiber-optic cable. Lafayette voters have since voted to approve the plan, but the legal battle cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Regional and national cable and phone carriers have spent billions of dollars to build broadband networks across the United States, and they have worked publicly and behind the scenes to block efforts that would create new competitors for their services, whether wired or wireless, experts say. Already, 14 states have enacted laws that would prevent or make it difficult for cities and towns to go forward with plans like those in Philadelphia and San Francisco. In San Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom says he fully expects lawsuits against the city’s Wi-Fi plans.

The debate is also being played out on a national level. Congressman Sessions, a former SBC executive, introduced a bill last year in the House of Representatives that would prohibit state and local governments from offering telecommunications services unless the area wasn’t being served by a private company. According to Sessions’ House financial disclosure statement for 2003, he held SBC stock options worth at that time from $500,000 to $1 million. Gina Vaughn, a spokeswoman for Sessions, says his position on this issue "is consistent with the position he’s held in the past—if you can find a service in your local yellow pages, the government shouldn’t be providing it." Vaughn says Session’s previous employment at SBC had no influence on the bill.