China Tech News reports today that Shanghai (finally) started the construction of its city-wide Wi-Fi. It apparently took a bit longer than planned, because when it was announced 15 months ago I already blogged about it. The only problem is that they start in Jiading district, far from where I (and most other people) live and work. Why not start in the city center? I would assume more people would use it there. Probably a political reason, or they first want to test it in a low population density area.

Another thing that puzzles me, is that they will cover the area with just 200 to 300 base stations. Jiading District has a size of about 450 square km with half a million inhabitants. I am not an expert in this field, but for such a large area a few hundred base stations does not seem to be enough. Or are they using WiMAX technology, but calling it Wi-Fi? Whatever it is, it is good news, and at least we will have wireless internet during this year’s Formula One race (which is in Jiading District).

By the way, Shanghai is not the only city in China that is planning wireless internet. Next to Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Wuhan, Hangzhou and Shenzhen have also set up their own plans for city-wide Wi-Fi construction.