Birmingham pushes to become wireless city
Birmingham, Britain’s second city, is on course to become a wireless city as it teams up with BT’s Wireless Cities project.
Initially, the project will cover a square mile of Birmingham City Centre, with equipment being installed on the BT Tower in the city, plus wireless equipment installations on existing street structures such as lampposts.
Anyone with wi-fi enabled laptops, PDAs, and phones will be able to access a free Internet portal containing information about the council. Schools and colleges will be provided with free wireless access to educational content, and from Spring 2007 the Council also plans to trial the technology in different areas of their work in order to benefit Birmingham residents.
“The Wireless Birmingham agreement is a clear demonstration of how well we have worked in partnership with BT – who are making a significant financial investment to establish this network,” said councilor Paul Tilsley, deputy leader of the council.
It’s another city pushing for some kind of wireless network for its citizens, be that via wi-fi or WiMAX technology, including London, Milton Keynes, and Norwich.
