Madison's downtown will have wireless Internet access by early next year, but there is no guarantee that the rest of the city will become wireless-ready anytime soon.
Cellnet, the company building Madison's wireless network, began downtown construction earlier this week and hopes to have the downtown wireless-ready by March 2006.
Critics worry that Cellnet may not build a citywide network. The company said that after the downtown project is completed, it will step back and see whether it wants to continue work on a citywide network.
George Twigg, spokesman for Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said he was confident that Cellnet will eventually build a citywide network, but he cautioned against looking too far into the future.
'Our goal right now is to see phase one get up and running successfully,' Twigg said. 'They have to make it work downtown first before we look at expanding it.'
Ald. Santiago Rosas, District 17, worried that the rest of the city may never get wireless access. Rosas' district, on the city's east side, is home to many lower-income Madisonians.
'Anytime we have a new initiative it's not distributed equally,' Rosas said. 'I think that our poor neighborhoods, our challenged neighborhoods are going to be left behind here.'
That is because Cellnet will only expand to the rest of the city if its downtown project is a financial success. And some in Madison's lower income neighborhoods are doubly concerned, fearing that Cellnet will avoid poorer neighborhoods where few are likely to subscribe.
'Any new company coming in always looks for their best interests and their profit margin,' Rosas said.
Madison taxpayers will pay nothing for the construction of the wireless network but as a result, the city government has little control over Cellnet's business decisions. Twigg acknowledged Madison can do nothing if Cellnet decides to leave town before a citywide network is complete.
Don McDonnell, a corporate spokesperson for Cellnet, refused to comment beyond saying that there was 'no news' about Madison wireless. He did, however, provide a corporate statement from Cellnet, which read, in part: 'Cellnet is committed to the goal of bringing Wi-Fi coverage to all of Madison.'
But Rosas, who supports citywide Wi-Fi, was not convinced that Cellnet is committed to anything other than making money.
'We're in the 21st century and we cannot stop the wave of new technology,' he said. 'But we still live in the 19th century in terms of serving some of our citizens.'
