Hamilton is giving up on its downtown public access wi-fi network.
We wrote about it back in early December as the city looked to save $90,000.
Part of the feeling was that public access wi-fi was becoming outdated as more private outlets- coffee shops and restaurants– offered wi-fiand more people could rely on their smartphones for web access.
Today comes the news that the Chelsea neighbourhood of new York, one of the city’s trendiest neighbourhoods, is gettinga free public access wi-fi network, courtesy of Google.
“New York is determined to become the world’s leading digital city, and universal access to high-speed Internet is one of the core building blocks of that vision,” is what New York Mayor Micheal Bloomberg said at a news conference ( Bloomberg News).
Hamilton wants to be a leading edge city too, and is heavily invested in developing its tech industries and it’s creative class-particularly in the area where the free wi-fi was offered.
Was the city too hasty in scrapping its wi-fi? Has it miscalculated the cool factor and relevance of wireless access for today’s young entrepeneurs and professionals? New York’s example suggests so.
-Rick Hughes, Business Editor
