San Jose Considers WiFi Expansion

[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR:Jessie Seyfer]
The San Jose City Council is set to vote today on whether to seek proposals to expand areas of free wireless Internet access downtown. However, San Jose has no plans at this point to follow the lead of San Francisco and other cities and provide free wireless access throughout the city. That apparently is because of opposition from so-called "stakeholders," including business leaders as well as providers of fee-based high-speed Internet access services. "They didn't think it was right for the city to use city funds to try to blanket the entire city,'' said John Bjurman, chief information officer of the IT Department. ``They felt it is really the realm of private industry to do that function." San Jose's Information Technology Department states that having larger areas of WiFi access downtown could greatly enhance city events.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/12990639.htm