Dianah Neff, who is spearheading Wireless Philadelphia, the city's plan to provide wireless Internet access in all of its 135 square miles, is becoming well known in the WiFi world. Neff is scheduled to meet with officials in Cameroon in November to discuss how the African community can build a wireless system of its own. City Paper asked her for an update on where the city's WiFi plans stand.

City Paper: Why is Philly building this wireless network?
Dianah Neff: Mayor Street has had a neighborhood transformation plan since 2000. Part of that is we want to bring economic vitality back into those underdeveloped neighborhoods. Ninety percent of our more affluent households, which make over $75,000 annually, have access, but only 10 to 25 percent in our low-income and minority/disadvantaged neighborhoods do. We need to have effective, ubiquitous access for everyone. To be an effective city of the 21st century, we have to bring up effective access to the Internet.

CP: How is this affecting local phone and cable companies?
DN: DSL and cable are fixed wireless [entities] but [the city's plan] provides mobility. We don't see it as major competition to them because it's a different market.

CP: How much will the city's wireless access cost for Philadelphians?
DN: We expect the price to be $20 [per month] for residence subscription and $10 for low-income rates. There will also be a daily or weekly rate for occasional users. And with the multiple ISPs we believe that the competition will keep the rate low.

CP: Is it true the city will provide 10,000 computers to low-income families?
DN: We'll be working with local nonprofits in neighborhoods and working with school districts to see who needs [the computers]. To get a free computer, you've got to go through eight to 10 hours of training. We want people to have basic skills and find value in it and know how to use it.

CP: What is the schedule for building the network and when do you expect the project to be completed?
DN: We will finalize the contract with Earthlink within 60 days and then build a 15-square-mile proof-of-contract area. Once we're satisfied that Earthlink can provide all it promised, we'll build up the rest of the city. We'll have the whole city done within one year of finalization of Earthlink's contract.