The Boston Herald

October 17, 2006 Tuesday

WiFi access to debut in Roxbury

A square mile in Roxbury will be the first residential area to benefit from Mayor Thomas M. Menino's initiative to blanket the city with WiFi access.

Menino said yesterday the city will test its first WiFi pilot project in the Grove Hall and Dudley Square neighborhoods. Under the plan, residents of the area will be able to tap into free wireless Internet access, which will reach as many as 5,000 households, Menino said.

The pilot is one of the first phases in a push to install a WiFi network throughout the city. That network would be owned and overseen by an as-yet-unnamed nonprofit organization, which would provide wholesale access to a number of Internet service providers.

Pam Reeve, the former high-tech executive appointed by Menino to seek funding for the nonprofit, said the city is meeting with neighborhood groups to discuss how and when the wireless access in Roxbury will be rolled out. ``My hope is we'll be well under way by the end of the year,'' she said.

Menino touted the test project as a way of bridging the ``digital divide'' between economic classes.

WiFi access will initially be available for free in the Roxbury neighborhoods and then, after a period of time, prices are expected to be between $10 and $15 a month.

The envisioned citywide wireless network would charge a similiar monthly rate for residents while providing free access in public areas.

Menino also formally lit two large-scale WiFi hotspots around Quincy Market and Columbus Park. Those areas are available for free and are meant to drive business and tourism.

GRAPHIC: CONNECTIONS: Seniors Alwyn McLeod, far left, and Phong Pham, center, show Joshua Oquendo how to use the Web, while Mayor Thomas M. Menino, above, watches senior Ashlen Price, left, help Yasmine Jama at an event touting iFi service at Faneuil Hall Marketplace yesterday. STAFF PHOTOS BY ANGELA ROWLINGS