Councilor envisions citywide wireless Web access
Councilor John M. Tobin Jr. envisions a Boston Utopia, with greater public spirit and a more robust sense of community. And he says he knows how to achieve it: WiFi.
The councilor who represents Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury wants to rig all of Boston for wireless Internet access, which he says will draw people (and their laptops) to public parks and other spaces, where they will commune not just with the electronic universe of the Web but with one another.
''It promotes community," said Tobin, who pushed his idea at yesterday's City Council meeting and won an order for hearings to explore it. ''It gets people out of their dorm rooms, out of hotel rooms, and out in the parks and out in restaurants."
Already, a number of trendy cafes and eclectic coffeehouses, along with Boston locations such as Post Office Square and a stretch of Euro-chic spots on Newbury Street, offer customers wireless service by private carriers and business operators. But Tobin has something bigger in mind. He wants a network that would let single mothers in Hyde Park log on while their children play at neighborhood tot lots, and music students surf the Net while lounging on their lunch break in Copley Square. And he wants the city to pay for it.
Tobin said his initiative is about ''fairness and accessibility" especially for low-income areas of the city.
''It levels the playing field, it makes the Internet within reach, within people's grasp," he said. ''Right now, it's expensive."
Tobin hasn't offered specifics on paying for the antennas needed to cover the city -- a cost that specialists say would run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars -- and the companies who would provide the wireless signals needed to log on to the Web. But he said a city the size of Boston could probably cut a deal that would make it affordable.
According to Tobin's plan, the city would start out small, adding antennas to the wireless ''hotzones" at Boston's public library branches and some Boston schools, expanding their reach. But eventually, the councilor wants the entire city to be wireless.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino applauded Tobin for the concept, but would like to research the logistics and cost to both the city and consumers.
''I think it's a positive idea that Councilor Tobin has come up with, I'm open to explore the idea," Menino said. ''What the councilor has done is given us some food for thought."
Tobin said he discovered WiFi about two weeks ago when visiting the home of George Fifield, founder and director of Boston's Cyberarts Festival, where he noticed a laptop on the coffee table didn't have any wires attached. Fifield told Tobin his home was entirely wireless. Tobin was amazed and began to consider the possibilities.
Meanwhile, some specialists say it would be easy for Boston to build off the existing hot spots to provide free Internet access throughout the city.
''I think it's important because the idea of the free wireless networks really supports community and gives people the alternative to using high-speed Internet at home, especially in areas where people can't afford the $40 to $50 a month for a DSL connection," said Michael Oh, owner and founder of tech superpowers inc., a Boston-based consulting firm. ''There are extremely large portions of the city where high-speed access is not affordable."
Tech superpowers runs a wireless network for a group of 12 Newbury Street businesses that joined together in 2002 to split the $200-a-month cost of wireless service. Bernie Flynn, an owner of Trident Booksellers & Cafe on Newbury, which is part of the WiFi project -- dubbed Newburyopen.net -- credits Tobin's forethought. But he is skeptical of businesses passing on the chance to make money by offering the service for free. For Flynn, Tobin's plan sounds like a long shot.
''It sounds like the councilor is probably dreaming, but you never know," said Flynn. ''The notion of having the city wireless would be great -- it would be great PR for Boston."
