An exploration of user-generated wireless broadband infrastructures in digital cities

Abstract

This paper examines the broadband connectivity options available in digital cities. It offers an overview of services provided by commercial operators, the public sector and by citizens themselves, arguing that shortcomings in existing fixed broadband and commercial mobile broadband services provide an opportunity for citizens to share their own wireless broadband connections. It explores Wi-Fi hotspot provider FON's approach to extending mobile broadband infrastructure by enabling shared connections within communities. The paper outlines some reasons why this specific user-generated approach to infrastructure provision has been unable to deliver highly robust broadband infrastructure, and discusses ways in which users and the public sector can be involved in developing new mobile infrastructures that will meet citizens' needs.

Public Wi‐Fi provision by Australian local government authorities

“…Questions initially framed by Middleton and Bryne (2011) and others about institutional arrangements, investment rationales, and user needs have prompted a range of case-study research, expanding our empirical knowledge (Park & Lee, 2010;Picco-Schwendener, Reinhold, & Cantoni, 2017). Though valuable, much of this work focusses on one or a few cities, with larger scale comparative studies rare (Baker et al, 2009;O'Higgins, 2016).…”

Developing a critical understanding of smart urbanism?

“…The second proposed line of inquiry calls for an exploration and interrogation of the Internet access (Powell, 2011), community organizations using big data "to build an economy of information more open to civic intervention" (Couldry and Powell, 2014: 1), attempts to bypass traditional commercial digital connectivity through user generated fixed-line broadband (Middleton and Bryne, 2011) and the informal establishment of digital sensors in urban infrastructure towards civic uses (Shepard, 2014). Thus, alternative responses are characterised by a much more diverse and inclusive group of participants, often more user or demand focused, concerned with a wider set of social and environmental priorities and with more informal modes of social organisation.…”

The wireless abyss: Deconstructing the U.S. National Broadband Map

“…While there is no doubt that the number of smart devices leveraging wireless broadband networks is on the rise, the ubiquity of wireless broadband is less certain (Middleton & Bryne, 2011;Sawada et al, 2006). Fig.…”