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I always wondered why telcos haven't made a business model out of this. It is too late now that 3g/4g is pervasive and fast enough, but for a period of about 7-8 years they could so easily have wired DSL to all those idle pay phones around the city and I would easily have paid $10/month (or more) to have Wifi connectivity when I was out and about.

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I remember in 2000 or 2001 a company in Chicago negotiated with Ameritech to put hotspots on the top of telephone poles around the city for something like $3/mo. The deal ended up falling through... I think too many parties had to get involved that it just became a nightmare to deal with.

You might be referring to Ricochet Wireless. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricochet_(Internet_service)

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