Both adages occurred to me this month after learning that Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly, in separate announcements, outlined initiatives to cover their respective cities with wireless Internet access. Both mayors are to be applauded for their vision and their action. Unfortunately, their modest efforts are not enough. All they are doing -- metaphorically speaking -- is repairing the walls of a small room when what is really needed in this country is an upgrade for both our national fiber-optic "foundation" and our wireless "roof."

While it is true that some large businesses already are deploying their own gigabit networks and a few small businesses and residences have this capability, the vast majority of broadband systems have only a nominal speed of about 2 MBs (2 million bits per second). The development of even a 1 GB network thus would represent a 500-fold improvement in speed and would allow businesses, researchers and consumers the opportunity to harness the exciting possibilities that the ever-growing convergence of voice, data, image and video will make possible.