Michigan State University
Quello Center at Michigan State University

In my last post I briefly reviewed the less-than-stellar history of municipal Wi-Fi networks that were deployed roughly a decade ago. As I noted in that post, these projects employed earlier generations of technology and often-poorly-conceived “public-private partnerships.”  And, importantly, they were launched well before the combination of smartphones/tablets and data-capped LTE/4G mobile services had turbocharged demand for nomadic Wi-Fi connectivity.

In this post I’m going to focus on an example of what I consider a new generation of municipal Wi-Fi networks, Boston’s Wicked Free Wi-Fi service, which the city formally launched in April.

As reported by Michael Farrell in the Boston Globe:

Boston has switched on a free public Wi-Fi network for about 30,000 residents living in the Grove Hall neighborhood as the first step to blanketing much of the city with wireless Internet service. Dubbed Wicked Free Wi-Fi, the network of outdoor Wi-Fi hotspots will provide Internet coverage over an area of about 1.5 square miles.

In contrast to the first generation of municipal Wi-Fi projects, Boston’s network is focused on the fast-growing demand for nomadic high-speed connectivity rather than the more mature and more technically and financially challenging market for in-home access:

The city stresses that the new Wi-Fi network isn’t designed to be used inside homes as a replacement for wired services that residents can buy from commercial providers. Rather it will work best for mobile users, and is largely intended to be accessed outdoors or in the restaurants and cafes around the neighborhood… making it easier for users with smartphones and tablets to access the Internet on the go.

While “first generation” projects tended to underestimate the technical and economic challenges they faced in targeting the in-home market, the Boston project sets a more realistic yet socially valuable goal of expanding mainly-outdoor coverage.  As Farrell explains:

Boston had Wi-Fi hotspots scattered around the city before this rollout — about 70 access points in a few tourist districts or at municipal properties. However, those hotspots reach just a short distance, and do not have the kind of wide-area blanket coverage as the Grove Hall network should provide.

And while first generation projects often looked to a private company like Earthlink to bear the financial risk and deployment costs in exchange for a large measure of control and future profit potential, Boston is taking a different approach.  For backhaul—a key component of network cost and performance—it is using its existing fiber network.  And, with help from HUD community development grants, it appears to be funding the project itself rather than looking to a private service provider to bear the financial risk.  As the Globe article explains:

The Grove Hall project was born during [former mayor Thomas] Menino’s administration, which was awarded a $20.5 million federal grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2011 that set aside money for redevelopment projects in Dorchester. About $300,000 was used for the Grove Hall build-out… Grove Hall was selected as the launch site because of its large number of low-income families who may not be able to afford the high cost of speedy broadband service.

According to an April 10, 2015 press release issued by current mayor Marty Walsh’s office, the Wi-Fi project is “using resources from the City and its partners, as well as [HUD’s] Choice Neighborhoods program.”

“HUD is very excited about Boston’s innovative use of Choice Neighborhood funding for the Grove Hall Wi-Fi project,” said Barbara Fields, HUD New England Regional Administrator. “This project is opening the door to opportunity for Boston residents, in particular students, and we are proud to be a part of this ‘out of the box’ thinking that is improving lives.”

In terms of the network’s future expansion, Farrell reports that:

[O]ver the next two years, the Walsh administration plans to extend the Wi-Fi network to all 20 commercial districts that are part of the city’s Main Streets neighborhoods program. Those areas are eligible for federal grant money to fund community development projects.

According to the city’s press release, when it was issued the Wicked Free network was attracting 14,559 visitors per month, including 79% repeat visitors.  More information on the project, including an interactive network map, is available here, along with an invitation to “[d]ownload the Citizens Connect app to alert the City of neighborhood issues such as potholes, damaged signs, and graffiti.”

More than just a physical network

The Wicked Free web site’s invitation to download the Citizens Connect app is a reminder that, when considering current-generation municipal network projects, it’s important to keep in mind that they are increasingly viewed as part of a broader strategy aimed at creating what authors Stephen Goldsmith and Susan Crawford refer to as “The Responsive City.”

Boston is a good example of this.  For example, in 2010 the city launched the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics (for information on MONUM projects see here and here).

According to its web site MONUM:

[P]ilot[s] experiments that offer the potential to significantly improve the quality of City services…[and] focuses on four major issue areas: Education, Engagement, the Streetscape and Economic Development. To design, conduct and evaluate pilot projects in these areas, MONUM builds partnerships between constituents, academics, entrepreneurs, non-profits and City staff.

Below are some links with additional information about Boston’s effort to use technology (including the Wicked Free Wi-Fi network) to become a Responsive City:

  • An NPR interview with two members of Mayor Walsh’s staff
  • A summary of key components of Walsh’s “innovation platform”
  • A collection of articles about some of Boston’s tech-related initiatives, published on the Boston Globe’s BetaBoston web site
  • A blog post by Walsh entitled “5 Tech Innovations Boston is Using Right Now”

 

Faculty and students affiliated with the Quello Center will present several papers at TPRC54, the Research Conference on Communication, Information and Internet Policy, at American University, Washington, DC, September 25-26, 2026. 

  • Nelly Aghaei, Johannes M. Bauer, Jean Hardy, The Economic Impacts of Data Centers in Rural Communities: A Narrative Review

    As data centers increasingly move into rural communities, they are often promoted as engines of job creation and local economic growth. Our narrative review finds a more complicated story. Construction can generate substantial employment, but these jobs are temporary and often filled by workers from outside the host community, while permanent employment remains relatively limited. Broader employment gains appear more likely around hyperscale facilities and clusters of data centers than around the single-site developments more typical of rural communities. Tax revenue is a more reliable local benefit, though generous abatements can reduce it. More broadly, rural communities are increasingly hosting infrastructure that supports national digital and AI industries, while many of the broader benefits accrue elsewhere. We close by outlining policy approaches—including greater employment transparency, independent economic impact assessments, limits on tax abatements, and community compensation—that could help rural communities capture a more meaningful share of these benefits.

  • Ruth Shillair, Avoiding AI Fear Responses: Turning FOMO and FOBO into Democratically Driven Dynamic Use 
     

    Much of the public response to AI seems to be fear-driven, swinging between rapid, uncritical adoption (FOMO: Fear of Missing Out) and reflexive avoidance (FOBO: Fear of Becoming Obsolete). These reactions dominate conversations about AI policy across sectors. But how can policymakers move past these reactive, fear-driven responses? Would it be beneficial to build stakeholder-informed governance that enables strategic, contextually appropriate, and democratically accountable AI integration? Little is known about whether people adopt AI chiefly out of fear of missing its benefits, or whether their hesitation to use it reflects fear of falling behind or becoming obsolete. 

    This research examined AI-conducted interviews with 1,250 individuals who use AI in some capacity, analyzing their discussions for evidence of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and FOBO and how these constructs shape AI use. The analysis found that FOMO and FOBO were significantly and positively correlated, often co-occurring as participants folded AI into their workflows, frequently with little official guidance or training. Notably, those with higher self-efficacy in AI use made more deliberate, strategic choices about how they applied it. These findings support policies that inform and train users in the safe, ethical use of AI. Democratic, informed, user-centered policy offers a path toward more purposeful and strategic AI use.

  • Johannes M. Bauer, Angie Nam, Elizabeth Mack, Boram Lee (Quello Center); Colby Humphrey, Lexi West (Broadband Access Initiative, The Pew Charitable Trusts), BEAD and Beyond: An Assessment of the Restructured Program, its Early Implementation, and Metrics to Guide States Forward

    A    fter years of planning and restructuring, the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program is in its implementation stage. In this paper, we critically examine the current state of BEAD and paths forward. The work is organized around two main research questions. First, the paper analyzes how the long planning process has affected the baselines from which states are now starting to close the remaining access gaps. Second, it explores the requirements of a system of empirical metrics that can assist researchers and State Broadband Offices (SBOs) in reliably assessing progress toward BEAD goals and sustainable broadband universal service. We show that these modifications have created some benefits but also created new challenges that undermine the ability of states to achieve sustainable universal broadband connectivity.      

  • Ganchimeg Namsrai, Johannes M. Bauer, Ruth Shillair, Civil Society and Agility in AI Governance

    This paper discusses the role of civil society participation and agile methods to the governance of artificial intelligence (AI conceptually and empirically. Drawing on policy reviews and case vignettes from the U.S. and global contexts, it explores how civil society participation in AI governance is organized in practice. It also considers how agility and adaptivity have been translated into institutional designs and examines examples that have shaped the current discussion.Civil society organizations have the potential to contribute to more adaptive governance by bringing knowledge and values into governance processes and providing monitoring and feedback that enable learning and adjustment as AI evolves. However, many limiting factors are in play, and the influence of civil society organizations is contingent on the broader institutional arrangements

In addition, Morgan Vigil-Hayes will present her research, co-authored with Srichandana Julakanthi, on Maps Without Witnesses: Closing the Participation Gap in FCC Mobile Broadband Challenges. Elizabeth Mack and Johannes M. Bauer will participate in a panel discussion on Whither Telecommunications Policy? Future Directions for a Maturing Research Field.

Tags: Boston community broadband Responsive City unlicensed spectrum Wi-Fi

Boston’s “Wicked Free Wi-Fi”: A New Model for Municipal Wi-Fi?