Roxbury, Dorchester Finally Get Pilot Wi-Fi Network

After months of postponements, Openairboston.net, a non-profit group created last year to oversee the rollout of citywide Wi-Fi broadband Internet service, held a “wire-cutting” ceremony for its first pilot network yesterday in the Grove Hall and Dudley Square areas of Boston’s Roxbury and Dorchester neighborhoods.

Openairboston.net’s network, whose scheduled November 2007 launch was delayed by fundraising shortfalls and technical difficulties, covers a one-square-mile area with approximately 8,000 households and a median household income level of about $26,000, well below the city’s average of $42,500.

After a pilot period, residents will have to pay $10 to $15 per month to access the network, which is powered by Newton, MA-based ISP Galaxy Internet Services using equipment donated by Kanata, Ontario-based BelAir Networks, the largest builder of municipal Wi-Fi mesh networks.

Author: Wade Roush

Between 2007 and 2014, I was a staff editor for Xconomy in Boston and San Francisco. Since 2008 I've been writing a weekly opinion/review column called VOX: The Voice of Xperience. (From 2008 to 2013 the column was known as World Wide Wade.) I've been writing about science and technology professionally since 1994. Before joining Xconomy in 2007, I was a staff member at MIT’s Technology Review from 2001 to 2006, serving as senior editor, San Francisco bureau chief, and executive editor of TechnologyReview.com. Before that, I was the Boston bureau reporter for Science, managing editor of supercomputing publications at NASA Ames Research Center, and Web editor at e-book pioneer NuvoMedia. I have a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College and a PhD in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. I've published articles in Science, Technology Review, IEEE Spectrum, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Technology and Culture, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and World Business, and I've been a guest of NPR, CNN, CNBC, NECN, WGBH and the PBS NewsHour. I'm a frequent conference participant and enjoy opportunities to moderate panel discussions and on-stage chats. My personal site: waderoush.com My social media coordinates: Twitter: @wroush Facebook: facebook.com/wade.roush LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/waderoush Google+ : google.com/+WadeRoush YouTube: youtube.com/wroush1967 Flickr: flickr.com/photos/wroush/ Pinterest: pinterest.com/waderoush/