A local company in Philomath, Oregon, expects to offer free limited Wi-Fi services to residents next year as the city signs on for paid service for its police department.A local company in Philomath, Oregon, expects to offer free Wi-Fi services to residents next year.
Alyrica Networks would make access to e-mail accounts, the city’s home pages and local business sites available for free while charging residents for full Internet access.
Joseph Sullivan, network administrator for Alyrica, said he expected the move would prompt price reductions in the cost of high-speed access across the city.
This is an interesting public-private partnership. On Monday, the city council is expected to approve a measure to purchase high-speed access for the police department under a one-year $5,700 and to allow Alyrica to mount equipment on city property.
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Carol, your use of the word “free” here is an odd choice. The english language is filled with perfectly good words that could have described that network, but to use “free” completely debases what “free” should mean. If the Philomath network is “free wifi”, then I don’t see why a network that provides a DHCP resolution without a credit card or a login shouldn’t be labelled “free” as well. It amounts to about the same thing. There *are* free wifi networks. I’d be a lot happier if you reserved your use of “free” for those.