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This article, from our neck of the woods (well, not exactly, but the non-Portland side of the state anyway), has been getting a lot of attention: Biggest Wi-Fi Cloud is in Rural Oregon.

Asked why other municipalities have had a harder time succeeding, he [Ziara] replies: “Politics.”

It’ll be interesting to see how the politics of Internet connectivity continue to evolve across the country, with the “Internet as basic infrastructure” (like roads), versus “Internet as a municipal utility” (like water, in this city anyway), versus “Internet as a commercial service” (like cable television).

As a data point: Bend, Oregon is a rapidly-growing small city of about 65,000 residents; Deschutes County is the fastest-growing county in the state.  I’m not aware of any municipal connectivity efforts.  The local cable provider, Bend Broadband, provides small wireless clouds in three cities; coverage is pretty limited, and expensive on a daily basis (though top-tier residential broadband customers get access included as part of their accounts).  Many coffee shops and restaurants throughout the city provide free wireless access, so it’s definitely doable to find connectivity out and about.

See also: Wired News: Cities Unleash Free Wi-Fi

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