Hey, it's Manouche, and this is New Tech City, and a couple weeks back we did a show that

pretty much bashed the cable and wireless industry.

They don't have to make sure that people can continue to communicate. They're just doing what

makes sense for their profit motives. We talked about why politics has everything to do with

bandwidth, what steps cities are taking to protect their networks in case of disaster,

hell, we even talked to two brothers who decided to buck the system and become just the two of them,

internet providers for an entire New York City neighborhood.

Yeah, it was a lot harder than I thought. Yeah, we've gone through a lot of drill bits.

So while we delve deep into the technical side of connectivity on that episode,

this week we want to get to the human side. What it means when you don't have access to the

internet, what it means when you could have access, but just decide not to log on.

And what you can personally do to help other people reach life on the web,

as in, should you open your Wi-Fi to everyone? Well, we've got a guide for you.

You know, it's silly to have a password for my Wi-Fi. I don't make anybody sign in before

having water or using my electricity.

So I want to start with my own equation for measuring access. Call me bourgeois, call me lame.

It's my Starbucks equation. Whether it delights or nauseates you, Starbucks offers coffee,

a bathroom, and Wi-Fi all in the same place. And there are over 200 locations in Manhattan.

I mean, from here where I'm sitting in Soho alone, I think I could walk to about half of them

without breaking a sweat. But in the Bronx, there are six. I'm not saying that the Bronx needs

more Starbucks, but I'm using this comparison to point out the lack of convenience there.

And this is where I'm going to bring in reporter Alisa Roth. Hi, Alisa. Hi, Manish.

...