The Year of Living Wirelessly

Boston is on the brink of a revolution-a wireless world where people in parks and on sidewalks, on subways and in restaurants, everywhere and anywhere, are plugged in to the Internet. Are we ready for a Wi-Fi city?

A free Wi-Fi network blankets Newbury Street, a project created and championed by Michael Oh (left), founder of Tech Superpowers Inc. City Councilor John Tobin wants to extend free wireless access across Boston. ''Wi-Fi seems a great way to bridge the digital divide,'' Tobin says, ''to get the Internet into lower-income neighborhoods.'' (Globe Staff Photo / Lane Turner; Photo / Spencer Leonard) Globe Staff Photo / Lane Turner; Photo / Spencer Leonard

By Greg Lalas

April 24, 2005

E-mail|
Reprints|

Text size – +

A gentleman, maybe in his early 70s, sits near the front window of Espresso Royale Caffe, a noisy, youthful coffeehouse near Symphony Hall. He drains his cup and folds his Wall Street Journal . He rises and then, just before pushing out into the street, stops and asks a college-age man: "What's up with all the laptops?" (Full article: 3133 words)