To Battle the Telephone Giants, Small Internet Providers Choose Wi-Fi as a Weapon

[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Matt Richtel and Ken Belson]
With cable providers and the Bell telephone companies dominating the market for residential high-speed Internet service, smaller Internet access providers are desperately trying to find a new way to connect with consumers. They say they may have found it in wireless technology that avoids the need to build expensive underground networks. The most prominent example is EarthLink, once a leader in dial-up Internet service. The company made a big leap into the wireless market this month when it won the right from Philadelphia to provide inexpensive Wi-Fi Internet connections citywide. Last week, the company also won an exclusive franchise to build a wireless network for the city of Anaheim (home of the Los Angeles Angels). The wireless option is attractive because it does not require building or leasing costly underground lines, and the cost of Wi-Fi equipment and installation is falling rapidly. Bells and cable companies are fighting wireless incursions into their territory. They see municipal projects -- or anything that circumvents their expensive and extensive in-ground networks - as a threat. They are lobbying state and federal lawmakers to curtail publicly funded networks, arguing that publicly sanctioned services could deter the Bells from investing in their own networks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/31/technology/31wifi.html
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