Wi-Not? South Korea's Seoul To Blanket The City With Free Wi-Fi

[Commentary] South Korea's capital city is already the best connected in the world, so it's not surprising that the local government has announced a $44 million project to bring free Wi-Fi Internet access to every outdoor space and street corner city-wide.

Surprising, no. But jealousy-inducing? Oh my, yes.

All buses, taxis, and subway trains will be covered, too. Korea Telecom (KT) already had Seoul's subway lines covered with WiBro, its nationwide commercial wireless broadband service. Was that good enough? Not in Seoul. KT had rolled out that leg of its service back in 2004 and put it into service in 2007. Before North American telecoms got serious about 3G, before much smaller municipal Wi-Fi projects stateside collapsed under their own weight, South Koreans were already living the IEEE 802.16e mobile WiMAX dream. South Korea's wireless penetration rates and download speeds make most of the U.S.'s cabled broadband look like an anachronistic joke. Seoul is already the long-reigning hotspot champ. You can already get wireless almost everywhere. Their version of the last mile problem is getting Internet signal outside. Actually, Seoul's problem (such as it is) illustrates both the genius and the frustrations of municipal wireless plans worldwide.