Mayor Chats About Houston WIFI Plan

Last night Mayor White, Richard Lewis (the city's Chief Information Officer... not that other guy) and the High Tech Texan hosted a conference call for bloggers about the city's plan for a city-wide 802.11g wireless network.

A conference call with bloggers? It isn't a bad idea, considering the technology, though some have noted the call's shortcomings. We just want to point out that Laurence Simon didn't have the hairballs to admit he was from isfullofcrap.com, opting for the more professional "I-F-O-C." Blogger etiquette, who knew?

The gist of the plan is that the city will offer up its infrastructure (buildings, traffic lights, communications towers and buildings) to a company willing to invest in equipping at least 95% of the city with access to the network. That company would then offer wireless service through various ISPs.

In order to bridge what the mayor is calling the "digital divide," the company would have to provide free service to about 6% of the city (parks, libraries, et cetera) and free or discounted service to low income communities. The Chron Tech Blog has more on that here.

Said the mayor: "We want to lead this country in having mobile wireless broadband internet technology, and we'd like it to have as much functionality as it can."

A noble goal, and one that could have a positive effect on business — unless you're SBC or Time Warner. The mayor alluded to this in his closing comment. "I think it's important that citizens be aware and be involved ... we may be fighting special interest down the road who don't like this because it jeopardizes the system."

If you want to ask the mayor questions about the plan, you can log onto the interactive chat in front of city hall at The High Tech Texan's website at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Mayor's screenname will be May0rDood51.

Photo from flickr user: albir.