Fun with surveys

This article doesn't surprise me at all:

Wireless Internet is spreading faster in southeast Michigan than any other metropolitan area across the country, according to a new national study.

Detroit made the biggest jump in the rankings of Intel Corp.'s America's "most unwired cities," leaping from 48th last year to 28th. Ann Arbor ranked 40th.

...

Nearly three-fourths of Michigan's 323 hotspots verified by Intel are in the Detroit area.

It's easy to be the "fastest-spreading" area when your area started with no wireless internet access! Think about these imaginary statistics, which probably aren't too far from the truth:

2003: Detroit: 1 hotspot
San Francisco: 10,000 hotspots

2004: Detroit: 240 hotspots
San Francisco: 12,000 hotspots

In this imaginary scenario, yes, Detroit's 23,900% increase is much larger than SF's 20% increase, but San Francisco is blanketed by wireless hotspots!

Detroit, on the other hand, is blanketed by urban decay.

(This post was updated in order to correct a math error.)