Philadelphia Weekly

If low-income residents can grab a brand-spanking-new free wireless signal anywhere on the streets of Philadelphia using laptops they probably don't own, can't afford and don't know how to use, does it count as digital inclusion?

Last Wednesday night that question came up over and over again at a town hall-style forum at Temple on what the new management of Philly's wireless network intends to do with it. The forum was organized by the Media Mobilizing Project and pulled in about 75 attendees.

On hand to respond to their concerns were Mark Rupp, the public face of the local investor group that bought the network early last week; Councilman Bill Green, who triggered the search for local ownership; and Greg Goldman, CEO of Wireless Philadelphia, which was created under the Street administration to accomplish the original project's digital inclusion goals.

Under the new deal, Rupp said during an opening panel discussion, the network will provide free outdoor wireless access throughout the city, powered by revenue from sales of wired service to businesses, big institutions like schools and hospitals, and, Green hopes, city departments.

The investors are planning to build out the remaining 20 percent of the network EarthLink never finished, though Rupp stresses the new group won't simply mimic EarthLink's technical blueprint when choosing which hardware to use. The biggest difference is that while EarthLink's model beamed wireless service into people's homes (usually missing the mark), the new model isn't aimed at residences at all.

"This is an outdoor network," Rupp emphasized. He points out that one of the failures of EarthLink's network was the difficulty of transmitting a wireless signal into homes through thick walls and tree-lined neighborhoods. "We've been studying this network and similar networks around the country for years, and we feel strongly that if we combine wired-line service with free outdoor wireless access, you would have something very robust."

Green rattled off a list of uses for such a network. "Each year 1.4 million tourists visit the city," he said. "They can use the network to make restaurant reservations, book theater tickets and read reviews." He's been pushing the city to consider signing on for a paid account, wirelessly connecting its police officers, firefighters, parking inspectors and myriad other city employees who work on the streets. "The city can save $5 to $10 million a year through this technology," he said. Still, there's no commitment from the city yet, and Green remarked that the new owners have "a tough fight" ahead of them to change that.

One of the community members who spoke after the panel was Hannah Sassaman, a media activist who helps build low-power community radio stations with the Prometheus Radio Project. Sassaman expressed concern that the new deal has turned its back on digital inclusion now that low-cost, indoor broadband access isn't on the agenda.

"The efficiencies that come from tourists being able to make reservations at Le Bec-Fin pale in comparison to the efficiencies that come from an entire city of workers, families and communities getting online, accessing city documents, applying for college, finding health information and enjoying the ease of communication the rest of us get," she said. "If it's not coming from this network, then it's the job of the city of Philadelphia to ensure everyone has access to a useful, reliable Internet connection within the next five years."

Rupp says he believes in the importance of digital inclusion, but doing something about it isn't a prime objective for him and his fellow investors. "Our role is to make the network available to the public for free. As for digital inclusion, the management and responsibilities of those programs must be addressed by Greg Goldman. That's not what we're about."

Still, he says, residents can access the free outdoor signal if they're creative. "People can get a signal at home by bringing their laptops or handheld devices onto their front stoops, or by bringing their computers close to a door or window, where the signal is stronger."

The thought of, say, North Philadelphia school kids sitting out on the stoop with their homework and their laptops (if they have them) is an uneasy one, and a number of forum attendees said so during the question-and-answer session.

Green bristles at that. "Frankly, I was offended by the tone of last night's meeting," he says afterward. "This is a free service. If it's free, it's not that much of an inconvenience to take a free laptop you got through Wireless Philadelphia and take it to the front window."

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1. ggoldman said... on Jun 25, 2008 at 07:54AM

“At a moment when citizens of all stripes are applauding local investors, City officials and Wireless Philadelphia for their cooperative efforts to save the wireless network from certain closure, Philadelphia Weekly misunderstands and willfully misrepresents WP's Digital Inclusion accomplishments and falsely suggests a diminished role for Digital Inclusion in the future. While WP has faced challenges in achieving our original service goals, we are very proud of the work we have done, especially against the backdrop of a difficult and uncertain relationship with a distant partner. With a staff of only 5 extremely dedicated people, we have developed a digital inclusion model that is creative and scalable. We have raised over $1 million in new funds from roughly 40 different public and private sources to support our digital inclusion activities. The vast majority of the families we serve received a complete bundle that includes broadband access, a laptop computer, signal booster, training and tech support. We have carried out this effort with formal partnerships with about 40 nonprofit organizations spread throughout the city that clearly recognize the value of our approach. Contrary to the Weekly's baseless assertions, under the new arrangement, WP's role remains fundamentally unchanged: providing low-income families the tools necessary for home broadband connection. While the network will always function most consistently outdoors, it provides a good indoor experience for a great many households. Importantly, with the new hybridized approach to the network, WP will work cooperatively with the new company to create alternative connectivity methods where needed for Digital Inclusion customers. None of this will happen overnight. WP certainly recognizes - and shares - the frustrations many Philadelphians have with this network. At the same time, the Wireless Philadelphia Initiative still represents a Philadelphia taking risks, thinking big and working on the cutting edge. These efforts warrant patience, support and fair analysis.”

2. resident said... on Jul 1, 2008 at 07:21AM

“I attended the forum and I think you did a good job with this article. The role of WP in overseeing the network will be diminished which raises the question of - where will the community oversight come - and the powers that be certainly don't seem to think that's important . this article asks some of the important questions about WP and the new ownership that are completely justified. the only thing i would have liked to see is more reference to the tons of community folks who came out to testify on this matter or the folks who were on the panel, who spoke from the perspective of real working poor Philadelphians who need to be thought about, ideally before tourists.”

3. kris said... on Jul 28, 2008 at 05:48PM

“i see wirelessphiladelphia as an admirable and still very worthwhile initiative... if nothing else, it's providing an infrastructure for perhaps future programs-to-come in the form of low cost laptops to those who need them. one organization can hardly be expected to solve all problems at once. my own experience with the folks at wirelessphiladelphia has been wonderfully positive. i emailed them asking questions about how i might expand their network indoors to the kensington house i just moved into and i wasn't expecting a reply whatsoever; what i got back was an encouraging messaging recommending the pep wave 200 which can be mounted outdoors and will effectively bring their network from stoop to living room. what i actually ended up doing (since i have a knack for learning new tech) was to flash dd-wrt (see http://www.dd-wrt.com/) onto a buffalo whr-hp-g54 with high gain antenna, configured it as a universal repeater, set it on my 2nd floor windowsill, and voila, i've got wirelessphiladelphia beaming nicely onto all three floors of the house. signed, very happy kensington resident.”