America's most wired -- yet wireless -- cities

By Dina Gerdeman

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Some of the biggest cities in the United States have the best blanket of Internet service coverage, the most WiFi hotspots and the highest broadband penetration rates. Yet Internet use -- both wired and wireless -- has become so widespread throughout the country, you'll find impressive coverage even in smaller cities and towns. You can travel just about anywhere in the United States and get online without any hiccups. But remember, security is an even bigger issue when connecting to a public hotspot, so use caution.

WiFi hotspots

When it comes to the number of WiFi hotspots, the United States far outpaces any other country. The U.S. has more than 68,000 WiFi hotspots nationwide -- more than twice as many as the United Kingdom, which ranks second, according to JiWire, a WiFi advertising network that has a registry of more than 240,000 free and pay WiFi locations in 134 countries.

Within the United States, New York has the largest number of hotspots at 1,226; San Francisco ranks second with 1,057 and Chicago third with 944, according to JiWire. Other cities in the top 10 include Portland, Seattle, Houston, Atlanta, San Diego, Los Angeles and Austin.

Broadband subscribers

Yet WiFi hotspots tell only part of the story. Broadband penetration rates are also revealing.

The United States ranks first worldwide with the largest number of broadband subscribers -- more than 66 million in 2007, according to the Organisation for Economic and Co-operation and Development. Broadband penetration has shot up more than 300 percent since 2002, according to a recent analysis by Scarborough Research. In 2002, 12 percent of adults in the United States had a broadband connection in their household; today, nearly half have broadband.

San Francisco was listed as the top local U.S. market for broadband penetration with an estimated 62 percent of adults living in a house that has a broadband Internet connection. Among the other cities with high levels of broadband use are Boston and San Diego, each with 61 percent penetration rates.

In San Francisco, Meraki Networks plans to provide free WiFi at no cost to the city. Meraki is paying for the project in an effort to learn how to build similar networks for profit in other cities. The company plans to build its network with solar-powered rooftop access points and will place smaller repeaters in windows and on balconies.

Forbes.com survey

Forbes.com conducted its own survey of the most wired cities in the United States and Atlanta tops its list -- higher than New York, San Francisco and Chicago. Atlanta was chosen for a variety of reasons: It is the regional headquarters for AT&T and Verizon; it spent millions wiring its downtown area for the 1996 Olympics; and it also ranks high in broadband adoption, high-speed access options and WiFi availability. Forbes.com ranked Seattle second, Raleigh, N.C. third, San Francisco fourth and Orlando fifth.

Broadband census bill

Tracking wired cities could get easier if Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) gets his "broadband census" bill approved. The bill calls for creating a national searchable broadband availability map that would allow consumers to find which service providers are available in their areas and authorize grants to local planning boards to increase broadband use on the local level. The bill would also allow the Federal Communications Commission to collect more detailed information on the number of broadband subscribers within a particular ZIP code.

If you regularly travel to an area in which you need to rely on wireless Internet access, consider one of the latest generation of high-speed Internet service delivered via cell phone networks. Cellular broadband access is like having a portable cable modem.