I want even one step further than that. I just want WIFI to be expanded. It is clearly the fastest way of getting online. Why not just get rid of 3g 4g 5g etc. and get wifi everywhere. Make calls and surf the web over wifi. I dont understand why phone companies wont do this. Maybe one day our government will provide everybody in the country with wifi (yes I know that would make people nervous because then the government would know where you are all the time).
NYC already provides wifi in its parks so why not just expand that? Just my wishful thinking I guess.
There's a few reasons. A big one is that WiFi is designed as a stationary technology. It doesn't permit roaming from site to site. So it would be completely unusable if you were on a bus, train, in a car, etc.
WiFi is also designed as a relatively short range technology. You'd be hard pressed to find good examples where it works well over a larger range, without needing a number of access points.
Finally, if you built out a nationwide WiFi infrastructure, with a similar footprint to existing cell networks, the cost of the infrastructure and the backhaul wouldn't be a lot different from what it cost to build and operate the cell network.
WiFi as a technology doesn't make sense in the context you are suggesting using it. What you're really arguing for is a government provided, nationwide LTE network. Which I don't think would have any substantial advantages over the existing system - either we'd pay for it in taxes or pay for it in our service charges to private providers. I'm generally left leaning, but I think that would really be overstepping the appropriate role for the government.
The reality is this stuff costs a lot of money to roll out and maintain, unless you're going to cherry-pick very specific areas to serve at a low cost (like MetroPCS). And even then it's pretty expensive.