The average number of daily users on Philadelphia's troubled municipal Wi-Fi net has nearly tripled since a group of private investors took it over just weeks ago.
The local story on the Metro.US site says the number of daily users has jumped from about 6,000 to 17,000. But it doesn't go into any detail, and the timeframe is so short, so it's hard to know what the increase actually means.
The numbers could reflect an increase in the number of people trying out the service. The real question is whether they'll keep using it, and for what. Okay, that's two questions.
It may be that there will be a sustained increase in occassional use of the network. But if users don't find the quality and reliability needed for "real work," the usefulness of the network will remain marginal.
Our own onsite review a year ago by Cool Tools Editor Keith Shaw found good coverage in main tourist areas, little indoor coverage.
The story, oddly, cites the example of an IT technician who spent TWO HOURS trying to connect in the city's Rittenhouse Square area. He says other areas of the city offer better connectivity; overall, he graded the Wi-Fi as a "C."
The new owners, Network Acquisition Company, are still auditing and assessing the network, according to the Metro story (we have a podcast interview with one of them, Mark Rudd); and Wireless Philadelphia, the non-profit overseeing "digital inclusion" projects aimed at low-income families, says their users will how have to reconfigure their routers.
Cox is a senior editor at Network World.
The opinions expressed in this Weblog are those of the writer and may not represent the opinions of Network World.
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