Brookline, Mass., considers citywide Wi-Fi: Vendors are being contacted. It won't be free, but it will probably push down prices across the town, says a local wireless advocate. And, incidentally, the city would move its Internet access to the new provider. This is often a footnote in municipal plans, but it's one of the reasons telecos--Verizon in this case--are opposed to the networks. Cities and towns pay incumbents billions for telephone and data access each year; a shift in those lucrative, stable contracts could substantially undermine incumbents' revenue over a relatively short span of time. [link via JOHO the Blog]
