Sacramento to Become One Giant “Hot Spot”
Wednesday, April 5th, 2006http://www.news10.net/storyfull2.aspx?storyid=16865
Written for the web by C. Johnson, Internet News Producer
The city of Sacramento is preparing to make wireless Internet access around town as common as cell phone service.
On Tuesday, city officials and MobilePro, a wireless broadband provider launched a Wi-Fi network for Sacramento. High speed wireless Internet access is now available at City Hall and in the next two years, laptop users in public places around the entire city should be able to log in.
“The first phase would be construction of the central city freeway to freeway, river to river,” says Dean Peckham, Sacramento spokesperson. “And then complete build-out within the city within two years.” The first areas MobilePro will outfit with transmitters are downtown Sacramento, old Sacramento and around the State Capitol.
MobilePro is putting up the $5 million investment for equipment and the city is providing the public access points or “hot spots”. The company hopes to make back its investment with subscriptions. It will offer daily or monthly rates for high-speed Internet access. MobilePro has agreed to provide up to two hours free daily Internet access at lower speed.