Wi-Fi

Wifi is a technology for delivering high speed internet. Wi-Fi range determines the range for wireless systems. Wi-Fi hotspots are used for transferring of data through wire.
==Background==
===Feb 2007 from P-G ===
Pittsburgh City Council heard from Carnegie Mellon University students about different models for citywide Wi-Fi service Thursday -- and one concept jumped to the top.
William Peduto, council's point person on technology, liked the idea of having one company build a citywide network, and then allowing as many as three competing Internet service providers to use it and compete for customers.
The question is who would pay for it. "We're a city that doesn't have money. We're not going to be able to build it on our own," Mr. Peduto said.
Director of City Information Services Howard Stern said the city is legally barred from even negotiating with Wi-Fi providers, but Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's administration is talking with the nonprofit group Wireless Pittsburgh about taking on that role. "We're hoping that they will take the lead, and do something similar to what the [Pittsburgh] Downtown Partnership did to get this off the ground" with a Downtown-only Wi-Fi system, he said.
The company that built that system, USWireless, which was just bought by Ielement, would love to help but can't afford the estimated $10 million it would cost to build a top-flight Wi-Fi infrastructure citywide, according to that firm's Executive Vice President Timothy Pisula.
==Links==
===Blogs===
* Wi-fi Church UnSpace - A Christian Living in a Post-Christian World - Report on the Rev. Jack Bauer from Unspace. Our costs for paperwork have plummeted now that everyone in the church has a PDA, with several versions of the Bible (including both Hebrew and Greek, with dictionaries and commentaries), bulletins, the church schedule, sermon notes, phone numbers, and a layout and wiring diagram for the church downloaded into their PDAs. The church WiFi seems to have encouraged a number of young adults to join the church. You'll be happy to know that the problem with the exploding data cards seems to have been resolved.
===Media===
* Downtown Wi-Fi surfing easy, even if you're indoors Post-Gazette -- Corilyn Shropshire writes about her experience testing Pittsburgh's recently launched downtown Wi-Fi.
* Health fears lead schools to dismantle wireless networks - Education - Times Online November 20, 2006 -- Radiation levels blamed for illnesses, Teacher became too sick to work. 
:: Parents and teachers are forcing some schools to dismantle wireless computer networks amid fears that they could damage children’s health. More schools are putting transmitters in classrooms to give pupils wireless access from laptops to the school computer network and the internet.
::But many parents and some scientists fear that low levels of microwave radiation emitted by the transmitters could be harmful, causing loss of concentration, headaches, fatigue, memory and behavioural problems and possibly cancer in the long term. Scientific evidence is inconclusive, but some researchers think that children are vulnerable because of their thinner skulls and developing nervous systems."
===Elsewhere===
* Wi-Fi-elsewhere-CorpusChristi Corpus Christi Disconnects EarthLink
* Wi-Fi-elsewhere-Philadelphia 
Category:Technology
Category:Communications