EarthLink announced today that they have been approved to provide wifi service to New Orleans.  According to the company's blog:
"The network will have two tiers -- a free (and ad-free) service at up to 300kbps during the city's rebuilding efforts, and a paid service at 1mbps up/down. EarthLink will also allow other providers to offer their services over the network, allowing for open access and competition."

There was some seriously strange legal wranglings about whether the city would be allowed to contract with anyone to provide this service and apparently it was the local state of emergency that allowed it.  Given that, and the incredible reliance on the wireless network there during the rebuilding - why doesn't the federal government just subsidize the top-tier service for everyone?  That's a silly question, such a policy would obviously interfere with the market's ability to monetize human suffering.  I can't imagine that Earthlink would mind.  At least permission has now been granted for the market  to partner with local government so that some service at all is available.

I'll be watching Esme Vos's Muniwireless.com for analysis of this deal.  See also New Orleans Voices for Peace, a liberal grass roots group "providing Internet access, website hostng, media development and training for partnering organizations and communities effected by the Hurricanes Rita and Katrina."

Update:  There's an email excerpt just added to the Earthlink blog from the New Orleans CIO about he's having people hug him on the street about the fact that free wifi is on its way.  It's an interesting account, nearly a tear jerker.

FON, the experiment in shared wireless internet access that allows members to use each others' connections and nonmembers to pay for access, has announced a key software adaptation that responds to users' concerns about security.  The company just announced on its blog that its next release will include two different environments using the same router, one public and one private.  By using two separate SSIDs, or service set identifiers, FON appears to be making a technical response to widespread member concerns about sharing internet access with strangers.  I can imagine this will make the system much easier to promote to prospective new members.  Apparently non-anonymity of FON community members and assurances that hosts wouldn't be held liable for activities through their connection weren't assurance enough.  I'm not surprised.

Though funded by some heavy hitters like Google and eBay/Skype, FON seems to be acting like a good Web 2.0 company should - agile, responsive and with frequent updates to its service.  The hardware end of the social web acting just like the software sector Web 2.0 evangelists say should be the modus operandi.  Yet this development demonstrates that it's not all a happy picnic of sharing and love.  Some technical means of user control are still needed at the same time all this sharing is going on.  That's what this looks like to me.

Old school jokester/art band They Might Be Giants continue to prove themselves one of the hippest bands in the Web 2.0 world (check out this fan wiki) with a new offering of ring tones.  Including this humorous one called "Call Connected by the NSA"

I'm not super into the politics of this, but I find it humorous.  Found via Ringtonia, a good source of international ring tone news. See also my recent interview with Katrin Verclas of the awesome group MobileActive.

FON just posted to their blog that they are ready for this month's requests for free routers in the EU.  The first 100 Europeans who email a photo out their front door of a busy street will get a free router so they can participate in the FON network.  FON participants can get free wifi anywhere they travel and find other FON participants.  Non-contributers pay to access the network.  

The give-away sounds like a less ominous version of rumors that someday we'll all be given hardware for free so we can look at advertising delivered allongside software.  I think the FON system sounds great, though I know many are skeptical.

After spending 3 days suffering wretched wifi service in the Seattle Westin, I was very interested in Hotel Chatter's Best Hotel Wifi and Worst Hotel Wifi lists.  You might find them useful and interesting as well.