Wi-Fi town a learning center. Residents get half price cable and phone-based communications

After a year and a half of troubleshooting, Chaska offers reliable service to residents for half the price of cable- or phone-based connections

Nestled in the bucolic Minnesota River valley, this town is ground zero for a great Internet experiment. And Ben Palmby is a prime test subject. Palmby signed up for his hometown’s high-speed wireless Web service when it was launched two years ago. It was cheap: less than half the cost of high-speed Internet through cable TV or a phone line.

But then, the quality of Chaska’s service sometimes seemed only half as good. "For the price, you get your money’s worth," said Palmby.

Chaska is one of the first U.S. cities to offer almost all of its residents Wi-Fi, short for wireless fidelity. Users plug a city-supplied Wi-Fi receiver into their computers, allowing them to receive Web service through radio signals, thus untethering their machines from telephone cables and making them theoretically mobile.

By Mike Hughlett
Tribune staff reporter

Full Story: http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0606110255jun11,1,6907497.story?coll=chi-business-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true