Free Wi-Fi could spell trouble, report says

Cities thinking about launching a wireless Internet network should know that Wi-Fi rarely comes without strings attached.

A study released yesterday by free-market think tank the Reason Foundation cautioned that municipalities should make sure the projects are both technologically and financially viable before jumping into the Wi-Fi fray.

Whether the Wi-Fi network is free or financed with taxpayer dollars, "if officials get into the broadband [Internet] business, they are entering a field where -- the technology they bought today is obsolete tomorrow," said Adrian Moore, a vice president of research at the Los Angeles-based foundation and one of the report's authors.