The issue of public wi-fi systems being developed in many urban areas continues to gain interest, as noted by David Warlick in his recent comments on the recent Time magazine article Welcome to WiFiVille.

I must be missing something, or my hometown is a way ahead of the game. Fredericton, New Brunswick (pop, 50,000) has had a FREE wifi network for citizens and visitors since 2003! Fred-e-zone now covers most of the city and airport. It was developed for wireless communication by city employees, but with tremendous vision municipal leaders promoted it’s public use as well…

From the release in 2003…

Like streetlights and sidewalks, Fred-eZone is municipal infrastructure. Today, coverage extends throughout the downtown business district, City parks, local arenas, business hotels, Kings Place Mall, and the Fredericton Mall. With plans for Fred-eZone expansion in place, the future will see coverage extended to include all of the City’s business corridors and public spaces. Wi-Fi is the next big thing in networking. It is now available throughout Fredericton for you to use – free of charge!

Let me tell you, expansion has taken place, and the network continues to grow. It is all paid for by public funds from city coffers and is considered a solid investment by most citizens.

I live just outside the city in a rural area, but I often enjoy free access at any one of a number of favorite downtown or uptown coffee shops or outdoor cafes. And YES!!…this means that many city residents who live in the central areas have FREE wireless broadband access.  Imagine what that means for education with many of our 10,000 plus university students live with free wifi access filtering into thier apartments!! What is THAT worth!!!

technorati tags: warlick, education, future, technology, wifi