Philly Wi-Fi saved, free access to be offered to all

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

June 17, 2008, 6:07 PM

In a stunning announcement, the city of Philadelphia said that it had reached a deal with a group of private investors to keep its wireless network alive and free.

Although details are still being worked out, free wireless access will be available to Philadelphians as of today. The system will be reassessed over the the next few months along with a formal roll-out later this year.

Though the investors have yet to be publicly named by the City, it is known that the investment team will be led by area businessmen Derek Pew and Mark Rupp. They're the chairman and director, respectively, of Greensburg-based Remi Communications, which describes itself as "a certificated provider of voice, data, video and application services in support of the business activities of enterprise customers."

2007 Democratic mayoral candidate Tom Knox will also join the company, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Philadelphia's Wi-Fi dream started with former Mayor John Street in January 2005, when the plan to blanket the city with wireless access was first announced. EarthLink was chosen to head the network in October of that year.

Construction of the network began during the summer of 2006, and the city's downtown district became the test bed for the rest of the network in January of last year. But soon after that, the city's plans quickly went south.

EarthLink suddenly had a change of heart regarding municipal Wi-Fi, and the promise of a large subscriber base never materialized. In fact, it was said that only about 6,000 had subscribed, a stunning failure considering that toward the end of its run, the network covered about 70 percent of the city's 1.45 million residents.

With the new plan, the focus will no longer be on a paid subscriber model. In fact, Philadelphia will become the world's largest free hotspot -- with service available at no cost wherever a signal can be reached.

It is said that an ad-supported model is being considered, and the new company is hoping to lure in "institutional subscribers" -- such as business and universities -- to help foot the bill.

Whomever takes over the network will need to generate a good deal of revenue: EarthLink estimated it would cost about $180,000 to $200,000 per month to maintain it in mid-May, as it was pulling out of the deal.

These costs will likely increase, since the new company is planning to both improve the system as well as complete its rollout to the entire 135 square miles that Philadelphia covers.

"We now have the potential to reach more people with this free network then any other city in the United States of America," current Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said at the press conference.

Though at least one group had been known to be working to prevent the shutoff of the network, it is uncertain what role Wireless Philadelphia, the non-profit group created by former mayor Street to oversee the city's wireless efforts, will have in the new arrangement, or whether that group played a role in making this latest deal a reality.