Philadelphia's municipal Wi-Fi committee, Wireless Philadelphia, has agreed to work with Internet service provider EarthLink to build and maintain the city's municipal Wi-Fi project, an effort that
would make affordable high-speed Internet access available to anyone throughout the city. In exchange for ownership of the 135-square-mile network, EarthLink will pay the city for the right to place
transmitters on city light posts. Despite ceding full ownership of the network to the telecommunications provider, Wireless Philadelphia will have some say in its operation, charging ISPs a $9 monthly
wholesale fee for providing the service to consumers, who will likely be charged under $20 per month for the service. EarthLink's contract with the city is for ten years; city officials said they hope
the network will be up and running by spring 2007, making Philadelphia the first city to implement citywide Wi-Fi. San Francisco, New Orleans and New York are among the other cities currently
reviewing similar citywide proposals.
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