San Fran Captures Most Unwired Title
The Bay Area leads for the most hotspots, allowing untethered Internet access for residents.
Internet users who moved to Porland, Ore. or Portland, Wa. in 2003 to take advantage of the plethora of hotspots [define] can now relocate to San Francisco, as Intel named the city, “the most unwired” for 2004.
Based on the number of public and commercial wireless access points, local wireless networks, wireless email devices, and Internet penetration, the study identified the Bay Area as the metropolitan statistical area that gave residents the most untethered access.
In the top ten unwired cities, California claims three spots, while New Jersey snags two. The Portland/Vancouver area dropped to 5th place on the list, and Washington, D.C. edged up from 6th in 2003 to 3rd in 2004.
| Most Unwired U.S. Cities | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | San Francisco-San Jose- Oakland, Calif. |
51. | Rochester, N.Y. |
| 2. | Orange County, Calif. | 52. | Cincinnati |
| 3. | Washington, D.C. | 53. | Memphis, Tenn. |
| 4. | Austin-San Marcos, Texas | 54. | Pittsburgh |
| 5. | Portland, Ore | 55. | Providence, R.I. Fall River-Warwick, Mass. |
| 6. | Seattle-Bellevue-Everett- Tacoma, Wash. |
56. | Charleston- North Charleston, S.C. |
| 7. | Bergen-Passaic, N.J. | 57. | Charlotte-Gastonia, N.C., Rock Hill, S.C. |
| 8. | Middlesex-Somerset- Hunterdon, N.J. |
58. | Tucson, Ariz. |
| 9. | San Diego | 59. | Akron, Ohio |
| 10. | Denver | 60. | Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y. |
| 11. | Chicago | 61. | Cleveland-Lorain-Elyria, Ohio |
| 12. | Sacramento, Calif. | 62. | Tampa-St. Petersburg- Clearwater, Fla. |
| 13. | Honolulu | 63. | Louisville, Ky/Ind. |
| 14. | Vallejo-Fairfield-Napa, Calif. | 64. | Toledo, Ohio |
| 15. | Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. | 65. | Dayton-Springfield, Ohio |
| 16. | Atlanta | 66. | Stockton-Lodi, Calif. |
| 17. | Boston | 67. | Wichita, Kan. |
| 18. | Ventura, Calif. | 68. | Nashville, Tenn. |
| 19. | Monmouth-Ocean, N.J. | 69. | New Orleans |
| 20. | Colorado Springs, Colo. | 70. | Worcester, Mass. |
| 21. | Dallas-Fort Worth- Arlington, Texas |
71. | Albany-Schenectady- Troy, N.Y. |
| 22. | New Haven-Meriden, Conn. | 72. | Springfield, Mass. |
| 23. | Los Angeles-Long Beach, Calif. |
73. | Melbourne-Titusville- Palm Bay, Fla. |
| 24. | New York City-Nassau- Suffolk, N.Y.- Newark, N.J. |
74. | Grand Rapids-Muskegon- Holland, Mich. |
| 25. | Salt Lake City-Ogden, Utah | 75. | Jersey City, N.J. |
| 26. | Houston, Texas | 76. | Fresno, Calif. |
| 27. | Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz. | 77. | Gary, Ind. |
| 28. | Detroit | 78. | Allentown-Bethlehem- Easton, Pa. |
| 29. | West Palm Beach- Boca Raton, Fla. |
79. | Columbia, S.C. |
| 30. | Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C. |
80. | Harrisburg-Lebanon- Carlisle, Pa. |
| 31. | Baltimore | 81. | Birmingham, Ala. |
| 32. | Hartford, Conn. | 82. | Oklahoma City, Okla. |
| 33. | Philadelphia | 83. | El Paso, Texas |
| 34. | Norfolk-Virginia Beach- Newport News, Va. |
84. | Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla. |
| 35. | Wilmington, Del. – Newark, Md. |
85. | Syracuse, N.Y. |
| 36. | Columbus, Ohio | 86. | Baton Rouge, La. |
| 37. | Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. | 87. | Bakersfield, Calif. |
| 38. | Omaha, Neb./Iowa | 88. | Fort Wayne, Ind. |
| 39. | Orlando, Fla. | 89. | Tulsa, Okla. |
| 40. | Ann Arbor, Mich. | 90. | Greensboro-Winston- Salem-High Point, N.C. |
| 41. | Las Vegas | 91. | Little Rock-North Little Rock, Ark. |
| 42. | Kansas City, Mo./Kan. | 92. | Augusta, Ga. – Aiken, S.C. |
| 43. | Richmond-Petersburg, Va. | 93. | Knoxville, Tenn. |
| 44. | Albuquerque, N.M. | 94. | Greenville-Spartanburg- Anderson, S.C. |
| 45. | Jacksonville, Fla. | 95. | Mobile, Ala. |
| 46. | Indianapolis | 96. | Daytona Beach, Fla. |
| 47. | Milwaukee-Waukesha, Wis. | 97. | Youngstown-Warren, Ohio |
| 48. | Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif. |
98. | Scranton-Wilkes-Barre- Hazleton, Pa. |
| 49. | San Antonio | 99. | McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas |
| 50. | St. Louis | 100. | Johnson City-Kingsport, Tenn. – Bristol, Va. |
| Source: Intel | |||
The Intel-sponsored survey was conducted by Bert Sperling, a researcher who collects, analyzes and compiles lists of “Best Places” data. The data was also calculated at the per-capita level to determine how many people share hotspots within a given city or region. The data was collected from a variety of industry sources and weighted across a 100-point scale.
