WI-FI UBIQUITY

The double-deck Megabus to Hartford had reliable wifi (probably because the bus was only a third full). Now I'm sitting downtown in New England's Rising Star, which is still as segregated as ever. The insurance people are in the glass and concrete towers; the help is on the street transferring between city buses.

I am at once the only white person on the street *and* the only person using the city's wireless internet (also reliable, at the moment). The city's website claims that "two thirds of households lack a functioning computer and access to the Internet."

So, two questions:

1. If I can open up my laptop anywhere, and it can connect to the internet, why do I need to buy a USB wifi device?

2. Is it possible to fix the racial and economic divide in Hartford?