Can Wi-Fi make it in Manhattan?

[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Marguerite Reardon]
New York City is in the early stages of considering how to get the city's roughly 8 million citizens access to broadband. "It's likely not a question of 'if' but 'when'," said Craig Mathias, an analyst with Farpoint Group of Ashland, Mass. "Every major city is going to have some kind of citywide Wi-Fi access. It will become an expectation like electricity or telephone service. But New York is definitely a challenge from a technology perspective. You may not be able to get it in every nook and cranny." At this point New York is still in the very early stages of planning its broadband strategy. While cities like Philadelphia, New Orleans and San Francisco are moving full steam ahead on their projects, New York is still just trying to get a commission together to look at the issue. On Monday, city council member Gale A. Brewer, chairwoman of the committee on Technology in Government, held a legislative hearing on a proposed bill that would create a special commission to advise Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the city council on how the city can get affordable broadband access to all its residents. The goal of the commission will be to learn about the different technology options available and educate the public about them. The vote on the bill is scheduled for Dec. 21.
http://news.com.com/Can+Wi-Fi+make+it+in+Manhattan/2100-7351_3-5992316.html?tag=nefd.top

For more on wireless efforts in NYC, see NYCWireless (obviously) http://www.nycwireless.net/tiki-view_articles.php