Strings Attached

Boston’s civic leaders, speaking with almost one voice, want to spend perhaps $20 million to make wireless Internet service available throughout the city.

Well, good news: It’s already here. I know, because for the last year, I’ve been using it. It’s from Verizon, and it costs me $80 a month. It’s fast and reliable, and unlike the city’s nascent plans, it works pretty much everywhere in the country – indeed, as I write this, I’m in a car on the New Jersey Turnpike, connected to the Internet.

Still, they say, their citywide WiFi (CiFi, perhaps?) will be free. No question, free is good. My wireless service is expensive (although, come to think of it, not that much more than decent

cable-TV service). And if the good taxpayers of Boston see fit to foot my bill, who am I to argue?

But argue I will. This is a well-meaning but terrible idea, an unnecessary intrusion by politicians into the private sector, one that would create a government-sanctioned monopoly while stultifying innovation. It’s Minitel – the disastrous French two-way proto-Internet – all over again.

WiFi is usually based on a set of protocols called 802.11. Using this, one can attach a transmitter to a conventional Internet connection and broadcast it over a relatively small area (called a hot spot). If you have a portable computer and the right hardware, you can link to the signal when you’re within range. Many businesses and households now use wireless. Every Boston public library and some retailers, including many along Newbury Street, provide access for free. So, runs the thinking, why not blanket the city with hot spots. Then, even sitting in a public park, anyone could be online. No more having to talk to your neighbors or look at the scenery. We could all be surfing all the time!

If Boston were to follow the lead of places like Philadelphia, however, the blanket would require one provider, meaning the city would have to choose who would do it and – by implication – who wouldn’t. Competition would have to be eliminated, but that’s OK: It’s the trade-off for ubiquitous wireless service.

And who pays for this? Taxpayers make an easy mark. Arm-twisting of developers is a possibility as well. Or one might make the service advertiser-supported.

But wait. How can I have citywide wireless now if this has yet to be done? The answer is that Verizon (as well as other companies, such as Cingular) uses a different technology, one that piggybacks off of cellphone towers.

All of which exposes the problem with government picking winners and losers. Technology

is constantly changing, becoming faster, better, and cheaper. As city officials ponder how to make 802.11 available to all, that technology, in many respects, is being superseded. (Indeed, because it knows no borders, Verizon’s approach is vastly superior.)

Still, how about the “free” part? Advocates for CiFi say Internet access is a “fundamental right.” That seems a stretch. Even if one concedes that it’s important, it’s surely no more

important than food, housing, or clothing – all items we pay for.

Moreover, price isn’t what’s stopping people from going online. Right now, more than 75 percent of all Americans are connected – and 120 million of them use broadband. That’s a stunningly high level of penetration. In addition, half of those who aren’t online tell researchers they don’t want it. One suspects that for the rest, the issue may be more the

cost of a computer than an Internet connection itself (dial-up, for example, can be had for less than $10 a month).

Asked about all of this, City Councilor John Tobin, one of CiFi’s key advocates, says that his real goal is to have Boston be a “facilitator,” helping to clear away obstacles to the development of WiFi. That sounds reasonable. Yet, it’s worth noting that local government in the past has been a hindrance when new technologies have emerged (two examples: laying of fiber-optic cable and placement of cellphone towers).

“I’m from the government, and I’m here to help you” is a joke precisely because it’s so rare. If Boston really wants to facilitate wireless access, the best thing it can do is get out of the way.

Thomas M. Keane Jr. is a partner in a private equity firm and a former Boston city councilor. E-mail him at tomkeane@tomkeane.com.