New York (pte027/27.07.2011/13:55) – Four subway stations in New York will soon receive wireless hotspots, the grant passengers access to the Internet and telephony in the well-shielded underground. Should be within the next four years all 277 Stations of the network follow. In order for the discussion of Internet coverage in public spaces will ride on back. Ricarda Pätzold expert from the Institute of Urban- and Regional Research at the TU Berlin offers individual, cultural aspects as crucial.

MTA uses Twitter and SMS

“This service also extends the reach of our instructions and warnings”, said the spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) against the radio station WNYC. The New York transportation company also informed its passengers via SMS and Twitter about the problems and delays operation. The establishment of access points has been 2007 planned, now the responsible operator received green light to secure financing for the implementation.

Local decision-making often

The question, whether a city its residents free Internet access in public places should offer, is generally not answerable, Ricarda says Pätzold in conversation with pressrelease. “The functioning of a modern city without good Internet infrastructure is not possible. Public hotspots are not among them”, she says.

Whether or not such services are furnished, is a question of cultural access. Some districts of Berlin are included as a promotion of public hotspots in parks projects, because they consider them explicitly as recreation areas. Whether and how the topic is discussed, is often a question of local political situation, about the party's parliamentary district in the constellation.

The density and quality of care with public access to the Internet in a city gives this often consists of a sum of independent decision-making processes. “There is usually a mature and fragmented state”, Sun Pätzold. “Most cities do not pursue a common Internet policy.”

Vienna test, Basel discussed

In Vienna and Basel, but worked on a citywide line. In the spring 2012 should be done on the Danube Island, a first test run with public wireless hotspots and in consequence more, well-frequented public places be extended, , the Deputy Head of Office of the Vice Mayor Maria Vassilakou (, The Greens) with.

In Basel, Switzerland, meanwhile, is still a process of discussion. While here in the expansion of commercial infrastructure – Keyword fiber – investing, there are things in public WLAN on the pros and cons.

Samuel Hess, Industry leader in urban office of Labor and Economic, points out, that faster internet access through private operators is guaranteed throughout the country and the trend in the mobile sector towards flat rate goes. He could imagine but with a positive decision, tourists to use public hotspots. So you could ever learn on your access point on a home near Offers. “But even here there are private, which already offer such a service”, Hess weighed in view of the numerous recommendations from platforms on the Web.