wi-fi: how do we stack up in this region?

Good overview here of the municipal wi-fi & wi-max initiatives across the country, from INFORMATION WEEK.

Many cities are getting municipal Wi-Fi plans rolling. In the United States, 154 cities, from Philadelphia to Chaska, Minn., have Wi-Fi networks across some span of the metro area, says Roberta Wiggins of the Yankee Group. Another 132 have networks under construction or proposed. Abroad, Taipei, Taiwan, has the most ambitious project, trying to cover 105 square miles in a wireless mesh. London, Paris, and Moscow have smaller-scale projects under way, and New York City is deploying Wi-Fi across its largest parks. If people in hundreds of cities really do get free, widespread Wi-Fi service, it has the potential to change how and where we use the Internet....

...Municipal Wi-Fi networks still look like a gamble. But when the risk is getting left behind--whether in selling online ads or building a 21st century city--it's a gamble the biggest names in technology and some of the largest cities are willing to take.