RSSIn Portland, Oregon, another city-wide Wi-Fi network bites the dust
By Jacqueline Emigh | Published February 22, 2008, 6:44 PM
In the latest of a lengthening string of failures in city-wide wireless projects across the US, MetroFi of Mountain View, CA has reportedly stopped work on a project in Portland, Oregon.
After installing 590 functional wireless access points (APs) in Portland, MetroFi has asked the city to provide $9 million in public funds to finish the job with an additional 2,000-or-so APs.
Another MetroFi customer, the city of Toledo, Ohio, decided last June to sell its municipal wireless project to Cincinatti Bell, after the wireless provider asked municipal government to kick in $2.16 million on the project over the ensuing five years.
Yet MetroFi is hardly the only municipal Wi-Fi provider to be running into problems these days. For example, a city-wide network in San Jose, CA -- under implementation by Wireless Silicon Valley -- is likewise stalled.
Meanwhile, last fall, EarthLink decided to exit the municipal Wi-Fi business entirely, after trying to deploy its "Feather" wireless broadband service across at least thirteen cities.
"We will not devote any new capital to the old municipal wireless model that has us taking all the risks. In my judgment, it's simply unworkable," said EarthLink CEO Rolla P. Huff, in a written statement last November.
During a financial conference call earlier this month, Huff said that, by the end of December, 2007, EarthLink had decided to sell off its wireless assets. The failures seem to be happening regardless of the carrier's revenue model.
MetroFi and Wireless Silicon Valley have both been trying to create networks that provide free wireless access to city residents. But in the case of MetroFi, at least, the access is only free to residents who agree to view online ads in exchange. Other residents can also gain access, but only at a price.
Both these companies have found it tough or even impossible to get the funding needed to build out the networks from either private investors such as venture capitalists or municipal governments. For MetroFi, the hoped for ad revenues have proven elusive.
EarthLink, on the other hand, had been charging subscribers for their choice of either a monthly or hourly access plan.
The strategy behind "Feather" revolved around undercutting the pricing of traditional broadband networks, such as cable. But Feather ran into some technical troubles that raised costs. In Anaheim, for example, the Feather receivers reportedly wouldn't work at all in places where the walls were too thick.
Beyond that, extra receivers needed to be installed in buildings three stories high or taller -- or wherever Feather needed to compete against other wireless networks.
Be all you can be :) Be human. Be you. Let your light shine.
How about we not let the bad news discourage us. These strange times make us even stronger...
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9/11 Martial Law
http://video.google.com/...id=-6495462761605341661
DON"T BE DISCOURAGED. Love to everyone.
Bobby
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Wow, you really don't get out much, do you?
Try reading a book for a change. Sure they don't have streaming videos, but at least they take you away from the fantasy world that you live in.
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you can already get wireless via cell service and via bluetooth u can hook it up to your laptop. y u need all this low tech wireless stuff
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That's true. Tmobile $10/month but its 3G is limtited to around 10KB/s. Verizon's is around 70KB/s but it's $70/month.
I recommend saving the money for holistic health and yoga.
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/quicklistrestorativeremedies14nov07.shtml
Love ya'll
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Cheap modern crap. Technology has stopped some time ago. (except for weapons, spy-, and privacy abusing technology)
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This radio show guest mentioned that most of our knowledge/research these days is locked up in black ops (black world).
http://www.coasttocoasta...m/shows/2008/02/24.html
But hey, I say if a person is spiritually strong, they are already connected to the source of all knowledge.
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As I read the articles about the failures of muni wifi, the operators all seem to blame the business model as the reason for failure. That is, you can't provide a service for "free" if there is no way to pay for the installation and maintenance of the network.
Unfortunately, It may be time to reaxamine the goal of these networks. As laudable as the goal free and ubiquitous broadband is, it is clear that this cannot be reached without some way to generate income to pay for the service. Broadband is a utility service, just like electricity and telephones. Instead of focusing on the "free" aspect, these systems should focus on providing the service at a reduced cost to the users, rather than no cost. In time, as a revenue-generating system grows, it could lower the price of the service to subscribers, thereby increasing availability of broadband to less affluent users, which I presume is an underlying goal of muni wifi builders.
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The service sucked. It required you to install a powerful antenna to get any decent transmit capability. There were already 4-5 other hotspots you could use instead.
Good riddance. Thankfully not a public dime was spent on this service, other than evaluating it's effectiveness and initial evaluation.
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The Japanese may end up making the entire concept moot, anyway.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/...an.satellite/index.html
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Thanks for the link
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The problem with city wide wifi is that it costs money to use, and no one is willing to pay. I think a much better way of deploying it would be to have everyone pay a slightly higher tax, that way the price is low and the consumers are happy.
www.talkprice.net
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Traditional 802.11a/g wireless networking technology is simply not suitable for citywide deployment. The only technology that stands a chance is WiMax.
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I don't think that would be the best solution. There are lots of people who don't use or don't have wireless, and a few who don't even know what it is lol. John Smith who lives in city limits but doesn't have user more technology outside of house phone doesn't want to pay for something he'll never use.
The only way to make city wide wifi work is to make the people who use pay for it.
As a side note. I think there would be a lot of security issues involved not to mention maintenance.
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A lot of people don't have children either but pay taxes to fund public schools as well.... Its seems that those on the far right don't like public schools either....
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I don't want to pay for illegal's children to overcrowd our schools, they should be paid for by the mexican goverment, not by me.
That's very socialist to HAVE to pay for the "common good". I bet you're for government run healthcare too.
No more taxes!! They should spend wisely what they get, but they don't. Instead they just want more and more.
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