Sometimes high technology crops up in unlikely places. This would definitely be the case if Mexico City ends up providing widespread wireless Internet access to its residents. While obviously a long way off, turning Mexico City into an enormous wireless hot spot would obviously have a large number of benefits.
As with most municipal WiFi projects, the idea would be to provide Mexico City with widespread Internet access as a way of allowing for greater intercommunication of government employees. It would also allow the government to monitor things like security cameras more easily. As a spillover effect, municipal WiFi would give businesses and individuals cheap ways to communicate and get information over the Internet. For example, schools would also be included in the plan.
Of course, some critics have been quick to point out that Mexico City doesn’t even provide consistent electricity and running water to its population. Some areas go entirely without utilities and even the better neighborhoods have frequent and unexpected power blackouts.
Mexico City has additional problems that have yet to be solved. These include, but are obviously not limited to, rampant air pollution and traffic problems.
Despite the problems that Mexico City has with maintaining basic utilities, providing municipal WiFi is still a good idea. For one thing, wireless technology is easier to install and maintain in many ways than electrical infrastructure. That’s because it’s wireless by definition. That translates into bring able to supply numerous households and businesses with wireless Internet access without having to run any kind of cable to them. It’s also a lot less to trouble shoot when something goes wrong.
Wireless Internet access could also provide a lot more educational and economic opportunities to the residents of Mexico City. After all, if a family can get a computer with wireless capabilities, there free or low cost access to the Internet could provide children with access to some of the best sources of Information in the world. The online educational resources would probably improve literacy just by providing the population with more content to read and more reason to know how to read.
Widespread WiFi access could also alleviate a lot of other ills in Mexico City. For example, it might allow some people to telecommute which would decrease congestion in the city’s streets and smog in the air. Considering that Mexico City has a population of almost nine million people even if one percent of them could telecommute rather than driving to work, that would make a large difference.
A municipal WiFi project in Mexico City is also a good idea because it can be seen in an investment that will allow for greater investment. For example, low cost Internet access could allow people to use Voice over Internet Protocol technology in place of normal phone service. This will allow businesses and families alike to save money that can be spent on growth or education, respectively. Widespread wireless Internet access would also make it easier to start online businesses.
There are a lot of reasons that municipal WiFi is a good idea, and those factors apply even more in less developed parts of the world.
A leader in technology reporting, Julia Hall has published articles about the latest digital devices and gadgets for over ten years. After graduating from MIT with a degree in electrical engineering, Julia turned down huge salaries from some of the most recognized fortune 500 companies in the world to pursue his dream of becoming a leading consumer advocate. Julia uses her expertise to cut through the too good to be true deals offered by high tech companies to reveal the real steals and the real duds that we’re bombarded with daily. If you enjoy staying on the cutting edge of technology, whether for business or pleasure, but find yourself occassionaly confused by the overwhelming information out there let Julia be your guide.
Tags: computers, electronics, entertainment, technology, TV
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