Recent research results released by Ipsos Insight hint that municipal Wi-Fi service, or 'muni Wi-Fi', could lure a significant contingent of today's Internet population to switch their current ISP to publicly-subsidized Internet services that provide high-speed wireless access from homes, schools and virtually every place else within a city or other municipal area.

As part of a wider survey of U.S. adults on technology and communications trends, over one-third of all adult Internet users indicate they would be interested in signing-up for municipal Wi-Fi service - if and when this service becomes available in the city they currently live - while interest is highest among those age 18-34, indicating this service may have stronger appeal with the more youthful early-adopter market. The growing availability of municipal Wi-Fi service in the U.S., particularly given the number of municipal Wi-Fi projects being developed for major cities such as Anaheim, Houston, Minneapolis and New Orleans, suggest the days of tethered Internet access are indeed numbered for many Americans.

The implications of the potential market shift in Internet services this would create are substantial, explains Adam Wright, Director with Ipsos Insight's Technology and Communications practice: "Today, there are about 100 million Americans that access the Internet using some kind of broadband technology, with an additional 30 million that utilize dial-up connections. The volume of users that could migrate to municipal Wi-Fi access has the potential to disrupt the online status quo in the U.S., since users would not only likely switch Internet service providers, but likely their current home pages and web search preferences as well. This also could include a greater focus on location-driven search requests and results."