Hopes for Wireless Cities Fade as Internet Providers Pull Out

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

March 22, 2008
Hopes for Wireless Cities Fade as Internet Providers Pull Out
By IAN URBINA
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/us/22wireless.html?ex=1363838400&en=bf9b948d31cd4df4&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all 
>

PHILADELPHIA — It was hailed as Internet for the masses when  
Philadelphia officials announced plans in 2005 to erect the largest  
municipal Wi-Fi grid in the country, stretching wireless access over  
135 square miles with the hope of bringing free or low-cost service to  
all residents, especially the poor.

Municipal officials in Chicago, Houston, San Francisco and 10 other  
major cities, as well as dozens of smaller towns, quickly said they  
would match Philadelphia’s plans.

But the excited momentum has sputtered to a standstill, tripped up by  
unrealistic ambitions and technological glitches. The conclusion that  
such ventures would not be profitable led to sudden withdrawals by  
service providers like EarthLink, the Internet company that had  
effectively cornered the market on the efforts by the larger cities.

Now, community organizations worry about their prospects for helping  
poor neighborhoods get online.

In Tempe, Ariz., and Portland, Ore., for example, hundreds of  
subscribers have found themselves suddenly without service as  
providers have cut their losses and either abandoned their networks or  
stopped expanding capacity.

“All these cities had this hype hangover late last year when EarthLink  
announced its intentions to pull out,” said Craig Settles, an  
independent wireless consultant and author of “Fighting the Good Fight  
for Municipal Wireless” (Hudson Publishing, 2006). “Now that they’re  
all sobered up, they’re trying to figure out if it’s still possible to  
capture the dream of providing affordable and high-speed access to all  
residents.”

EarthLink announced on Feb. 7 that “the operations of the municipal Wi- 
Fi assets were no longer consistent with the company’s strategic  
direction.” Philadelphia officials say they are not sure when or if  
the promised network will now be completed.

For Cesar DeLaRosa, 15, however, the concern is more specific. He said  
he was worried about his science project on global warming.

“If we don’t have Internet, that means I’ve got to take the bus to the  
public library after dark, and around here, that’s not always real  
safe,” Cesar said, seated in front of his family’s new computer in a  
gritty section of Hunting Park in North Philadelphia. His family is  
among the 1,000 or so low-income households that now have free or  
discounted Wi-Fi access through the city’s project, and many of them  
worry about losing access that they cannot otherwise afford.

Philadelphia officials say service will not be disconnected.

“We expect EarthLink to live up to its contract,” said Terry Phillis,  
the city’s chief information officer.

But when City Council leaders here held a hearing in December to  
question EarthLink about how it intended to keep service running and  
complete the planned network, the company failed to show up.

Officials in Chicago, Houston, Miami and San Francisco find themselves  
in a similar predicament with EarthLink and other service providers,  
and have all temporarily tabled their projects.

Part of the problem was in the business model established in  
Philadelphia and mimicked in so many other cities, Mr. Settles said.

In Philadelphia, the agreement was that the city would provide free  
access to city utility poles for the mounting of routers; in return  
the Internet service provider would agree to build the infrastructure  
for 23 free hotspots and to provide inexpensive citywide residential  
service, including 25,000 special accounts that were even cheaper for  
lower-income households.

[snip]

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