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Oct 27, 2006 12:25 pm US/Eastern
Hartford Launches Free Wi-Fi Program
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) ―
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Hartford will offer free wireless service for low-income residents.
Some city residents are getting wired. Hartford announced Friday that it is launching a $1 million pilot program to test a free municipal wireless network in two city neighborhoods.
The idea is to give lower-income families access to information on education, health care and jobs.
In addition to free wireless access, the city will offer 900 refurbished, wireless-ready computers for $150 each.
"Hartford is on the wrong side of the digital divide," said Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez. "We all know that in employment today, jobs continue to be tied into the Internet. So many jobs require online access, both to find out about them and to get access to them."
The pilot program will serve downtown and the Blue Hills neighborhood. About 5,000 homes and 75,000 people, including more than 50,000 commuters who work downtown, will be able to use it.
The mayor's staff estimates that only about 25 percent of city households have a working computer with Internet access, compared with 70 percent of suburban homes.
The new broadband wireless network, developed with help from IBM, uses a technology called Wi-Fi, or wireless fidelity.
Users will get free unlimited access through March, after which only the first 20 hours a month would be free.
After that, residents can buy unlimited access for $12 to $17 a month. Commuters who work in Hartford won't get free access but can buy it for the same price as city residents.
The first phase of the program will last about a year, and Perez said he hopes to expand to the entire city within three years. The project will cost an estimated $5.8 million, some of which may be offset by usage fees and advertising.
As the network gets bigger, the city will offer more computers and in-depth computer classes at public libraries. People who buy the reduced-price computers will need to attend 45-minute training sessions.
More than 300 publicly operated networks nationwide are either up and running or in the planning phase.
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