http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/02/broadband-wifi-telecom-technology-cio-network-wiredcities.html?boxes=Homepagemostpopular

Quote :

"America's Most Wired Cities Elizabeth Woyke, 03.02.10, 6:00 PM ET Raleigh is the kind of tech-forward city that, innovative as it is, often gets overlooked in favor of San Francisco, San Jose or Seattle. But this year the North Carolina capital passed its flashier rivals to grab the No. 1 spot on Forbes' Most Wired Cities list. Raleigh's win means it ranks higher overall than any other U.S. city in three measures: broadband penetration, broadband access and plentiful wi-fi hot spots. Taken together, the factors point to a populace that readily uses high-speed Internet inside and outside the home. At stake is more than just bragging rights. As the U.S. formulates a national broadband plan designed to connect the entire country to fast, affordable Internet, Raleigh and other top-ranking Wired Cities could serve as models for change. Though a surprise winner, Raleigh boasts plenty of technology assets, including a high concentration of info-tech companies, research universities and state government offices. Several tech powerhouses, such as IBM, Cisco and Lenovo, maintain large offices in North Carolina's nearby Research Triangle Park. Raleigh and its surrounding cities are also home to North Carolina State University, Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This combination of a highly educated and relatively higher-income population is "fertile ground" for high broadband demand and usage, says Brooks Raiford, head of the North Carolina Technology Association trade group. Regular folks can exploit Raleigh's IT resources too. The city's downtown is covered by a wi-fi network that is free to users. Operator Sprint Nextel recently launched its "4G" next-generation mobile broadband in Raleigh and the rest of the "Triangle"--months before larger cities like Boston, New York and Washington, D.C., will get the service. "We're very lucky to be at the epicenter of a lot of market strengths for these different companies," say Raiford. In Pictures: America's Most Wired Cities Interactive: America's Most Wired Cities Past winning cities haven't lost their wired factor. Last year's No. 1, Seattle, ranks No. 3 this year, while Atlanta, the most wired city from 2008, is No. 2. Each city has its strengths. Of the three, Seattle claims the most wi-fi hot spots per capita, while Atlanta enjoys the highest broadband usage and Raleigh ranks consistently high across categories. ? Raleigh's elevation from No. 15 last year to No. 1 represented the greatest year-over-year improvement in the list. Miami, which dropped from No. 6 to No. 17, accounted for the steepest drop, mostly due to a lower rate of broadband usage this year. The biggest losers, of course, are the cities that didn't make the list at all. Drop-offs include some of the country's largest metropolises, like New York and Los Angeles, as well as Cincinnati, Cleveland, Honolulu, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Nashville, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Sacramento and Tampa. The falloff list is longer than usual this year because we trimmed the number of finalists from 30 cities to 20. The changes didn't stymie new entrants. Colorado Springs and Salt Lake City joined the list for the first time, propelled by higher broadband usage figures than in previous years. As in the past, we compiled the list by computing the percentage of Internet users with high-speed connections in a particular city and the number of companies providing high-speed Internet in that area. Since many urban residents access the Internet by wi-fi, we also measure the number of public wireless Internet hot spots. In previous years, we relied on Nielsen for broadband usage data. This year, we used data from market researcher Scarborough Research. Information about broadband providers came from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. JiWire, a San Francisco-based wi-fi advertising network, calculated the hot spot data. As broadband data improves, the Wired Cities formula will evolve. JiWire, which maintains a sprawling directory of public wi-fi hot spots worldwide, is considering expanding its catalog to include newer wireless technologies, such as WiMax, says David Staas, the company's senior vice president of marketing. The fast, fourth-generation technology--essentially the same thing as Sprint's "4G"--is currently available in 27 markets across the U.S. Improved data collection from the FCC will also make it possible to add factors like broadband speed and cost to the mix. The FCC doesn't currently collect broadband pricing data, but has already begun tweaking its surveys to measure Internet use by census tract--rather than county--and divide broadband into different "speed tiers." The new research is the "first iteration of the commission's plan to collect more detailed broadband data," says FCC spokesman Mark Wigfield. The FCC is due to present its national broadband plan to Congress on Mar. 17. By next year, we may be able to gauge broadband availability simply by eying a map. The U.S. Commerce Department is compiling "broadband maps" for each state and says the project will be completed by February 2011. The data should pave the way to get a lot more cities wired and connected."

3/3/2010 2:01:19 PM

Well, Durham certainly isnt

I remember when i lived in raleigh i could catch Wi-Fi goin down I-40 in that area

3/3/2010 2:27:20 PM

Quote :

"Raleigh's elevation from No. 15 last year to No. 1 represented the greatest year-over-year improvement in the list."

I really can't imagine that things have changed in some drastic way in the last year.

3/3/2010 3:09:57 PM

^

http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/4687699/

3/3/2010 3:11:35 PM

I guess I should pay more attention.

3/3/2010 3:13:31 PM

It's probably on a per capita basis. We could have the same number of people on Wi-Fi as Miami but since our population is smaller, our percentages look better.

3/3/2010 3:14:42 PM

Hopefully this helps put Raleigh in Google's crosshairs

3/3/2010 3:23:04 PM

^^^^ is that actually in effect? it's from march of last year and it says they planned on having it done for the fall...

3/3/2010 3:24:46 PM

I'm pretty sure I saw something about it going into effect, that's just the first result I saw when I googled it.

3/3/2010 3:26:32 PM

Wouldn't this make us America's Most "Wireless" City?

3/3/2010 5:15:36 PM

^my thoughts exactly

3/3/2010 6:30:36 PM

^ Wireless refer to access points, cell towers, etc. At the foundational infrastructure level, there are a lot of wires (well fiber).

3/3/2010 7:01:20 PM

Quote :

"Hopefully this helps put Raleigh in Google's crosshairs"

That'd be pretty awesome.

3/3/2010 7:52:57 PM

^^its a series of tubes...

and since UNC, Duke, and RTP are all listed in the article, I'm thinking it is looking at Metro areas and not just cities:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_United_States_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas

Also, I find it interesting that Charlotte is 16 on the Wired list, when it is I think the 18th most populated city in the country...so pretty much where you would think it would be. Raleigh is 45th most populated iirc.

[Edited on March 4, 2010 at 1:16 AM. Reason : -]

3/4/2010 1:13:02 AM

Since it greatly relates to this thread in Tech...

http://www.thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=589715

Since Raleigh gets this new Most Wired City title, I think we deserve some Google love, and that's our chance.

3/4/2010 3:28:18 AM

I remember when I was a freshman in college the most wired city in america was Blacksburg, Va.

3/4/2010 8:25:08 AM