Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all.

I am much more supportive of Philadelphia's initiative, because it is more of a business partnership with a company, not a full socialist contracting out of services.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports:

[Earthlink] will spend its own money — $10 million to $15 million — to blanket the city with equipment needed to create a wireless fidelity, or wi-fi, network.

The expected payoff, for EarthLink and the city of Philadelphia, is sharing revenue from new Internet users, including many who are expected to upgrade from dial-up connections.

The service, with speeds of 1 megabyte, will be slower than most other high-speed offerings. Typical users will pay $20 per month. Lower-income users will be charged $10. Visitors, meanwhile, will get to use the service as needed — perhaps by paying for as little as an hour.

Donald Berryman, president of EarthLink Municipal Networks, said the company is betting that there will be enough users to justify the company's investment.

"EarthLink sees this as a significant part of its future revenue," Berryman said Tuesday, when Philadelphia's plans were announced. "Success for us, in the next three years, would be to have 15 to 20 markets rolled out."

It seems that the city's major investment in launching the project will be to supply locations for the WiFi routers, and to lay out the infrastructure. EarthLink will have to allow other ISPs to offer service on Philadelphia's network.

While this is still a government interfering in the natural evolution and competition in a market for a hot commodity, basically done so certain politicians can score points with voters, it at least can have an economic upside for the city. If a city wants to treat the internet like a utility, it will probably not be profitable for the city in the end - what utilities are? But at least an effort was made to financially justify the move in Philadelphia, unlike the commune mentality that seems to drive San Francisco's decisions.