As The WiFi Turns

Calls and emails continue to come in regarding citywide WiFi. Still a lot of questions from the public. Mainly:

• How come it won't be free?
• Will I need to get new gear to receive the signals?
• How secure will it be?
• If it's not as fast as DSL or cable then why do I need it?
• Why is the city government getting involved in this?

All fair questions indeed and each is something that individual users need to determine if they should subscribe and use the service when launched. My top level thoughts continue to be that if you don't want to use it then don't use it. (Maybe I'm a bit biased since I live in Ft. Bend County)

And I continue to remind people that the city is involved as they can make deployment easier by providing access rights to light poles and buildings for the thousands of routers and base stations.

But unless an ISP is going to offer really cheap or free access (maybe, but probably not) there are other inexpensive options. AT&T offers DSL service for $14.95 (not their highest speed) and due to a clause with the Bell South merger that price will soon go down to $10 bucks in some areas.

Convergent Broadband, the company that didn't get the city contract, has been relatively quiet. Founder Don Jordan provided a gracious to quote to the Chronicle but his partner Mark Singleton opened up a bit to Chron reporter Alexis Grant.

Apparently he is disappointed with the city moving forward with an Atlanta-based company. But you've got to love his quote: "It is a slap in the face of all Houstonians to not use High-Tech Texans."

Just remember, AT&T is based in San Antonio.