The Story Behind Cerritos Citywide WiFi
The city of Cerritos deciding to coat the entire city in WiFi got a lot of press back when it was announced. USA Today now looks at the story behind the decision – saying that many residents had been complaining that they couldn’t get broadband internet access. City Hall’s response was to see if they could cover the entire city with WiFi and charge $30/month for it. With everyone looking at wide-area wireless broadband solutions, it seems like this use of WiFi worked out pretty well. They said it cost in the “tens of thousands” of dollar range. It’s not perfect – and they do have problems with interference and security, but (once again) it’s amazing what can be built quickly and relatively cheaply to compete with plans from big broadband companies.
