Municipal
New York Parks Wi-Fi Shut Down
The company operating Wi-Fi in some New York parks is closing down: Eagle-eyed correspondent Klaus Ernst noted that the Wi-Fi in the parks project has shut down. Wi-Fi Salon, the concessionaire for mo ....... read more
3 days ago
Clarification on Philadelphia's Usage
A few days ago, I questioned the Wall Street Journal's statement about 28,000 daily unique users on Philadelphia's network: The Phila. network, operated by NAC, covers more than 75 sq mi of the city, ....... read more
Wed,
10 Dec 2008
Metro Bits: Ok. Network Applications Emerge; Harvard Solar-Fi
Oklahoma City, home to several hundred sq mi of Municipal Wi-Fi, finds another application: Okla. City is working on a $4m plan to reduce the costs and inflexibility of their traffic-light management ....... read more
Fri,
12 Dec 2008
St. Louis Park Settles with Arinc over Failed Network
First, it was the poles; then the performance; then the lawsuit: Now, the settlement. The city of St. Louis Park, Minn., wanted to build a city-owned Wi-Fi network that would cope with the problems of ....... read more
Thu,
13 Nov 2008
Minneapolis Find It's All about the Utility Poles
Those dang poles add $1m to Wi-Fi network expense: US Internet Wireless couldn't install service in a large remaining area of Minneapolis because the decorative utility poles in the upscale neighborho ....... read more
Wed,
24 Sep 2008
Premature Update on Philadelphia Wi-Fi
I'm not sure why this article was written, as there appears to be nothing particularly newsworthy in it: The News.com reporter Marguerite Reardon has covered muni-Fi for as long as I have, and after r ....... read more
Fri,
05 Sep 2008
Portland's MetroFi Nodes Still Hanging on
The Oregonian notes that the city may still pick up tab for removing MetroFi's base station: Although MetroFi posted a $30,000 bond against removal of its antennas, the cost could be $90,000 if the co ....... read more
Sat,
09 Aug 2008
EarthLink Powers Down Anaheim
The last lingering city in the once-ambitious EarthLink Municipal efforts shuts down: Forgot about Anaheim, Calif.'s EarthLink Wi-Fi network? Me, too. It was once the showcase, with a several sq mi bu ....... read more
Thu,
31 Jul 2008
Santa Clara Takes over Its MetroFi Network
Santa Clara takes over MetroFi network for meter reading: The city might also expand free public access. Advertisements will be removed as well as logins. This action is a far cry from the last time a ....... read more
Thu,
24 Jul 2008
Lompoc's Comeback
I've been citing Lompoc, Calif., as a poster child of what can go wrong in Municipal Wi-Fi for a few years: But I apparently have to change my tune. Lompoc, near Santa Barbara, had unreasonable expect ....... read more
Tue,
15 Jul 2008
Wireless Sensors Tell Drivers of Parking Spots in San Francisco
A fascinating large-scale test in San Francisco intends to reduce wasted miles in finding parking spots: The City by the Bay is installing wireless sensors at 6,000 of its 24,000 parking spots which w ....... read more
Sun,
13 Jul 2008
Silicon Valley's Wi-Fi Situation
The Palo Alto Weekly exhaustively examines its city's and Silicon Valley's state of public Wi-Fi: The paper looks at the failures of various networks around the valley, the current state of Wi-Fi plan ....... read more
Wed,
09 Jul 2008
Dead Possum Patrol Aided by NYC Wireless Network
I'm going for the sensational in the headline, but it's part of the story's intro, too: The New York Times reports on some early uses of the city's $500m wireless network designed for non-public uses. ....... read more
Fri,
27 Jun 2008
Metro Round-Up: Delays and New Beginnings
Milwaukee, Wisc., network likely won't expand: Midwest Fiber Networks spent $700,000 to build a pilot network that they can't fund citywide. They want anchor tenants for the $20m network, and can't ge ....... read more
Mon,
23 Jun 2008
Portland's Network Gets Shut Off Date
It was a matter of time, but the death knell date has been set for Portland, Ore.'s Wi-Fi network: MetroFi told the city that it will turn its network off on June 30, and remove all devices by about J ....... read more
Thu,
19 Jun 2008
Phila. Saviors Name Corp., Provide Details
Okay, the name is Network Acquisition Corporation (NAC), so it's likely to change: But the deal closed yesterday. Tropos gets a win here because their equipment will continue to be used as the Wi-Fi n ....... read more
Wed,
18 Jun 2008
Mobile Post: Talking about Philadelphia's New Plan
What do you get with that $17m network? A lot of heartache, but also a new business model that just might work. I discuss the new plan in Philadelphia in this audio mobile post.
Copyright ©2008 ....... read more
Tue,
17 Jun 2008
Toronto Hydro Sheds Fiber, Wi-Fi Network to Cable Operator
Toronto Hydro to sell telecom division to Cogeco Cable: The Toronto utility, itself created as a kind of above-board financial shell game to move money around in the city's budget, can't proceed on te ....... read more
Mon,
16 Jun 2008
Documentary on Wireless Philadelphia Released
George Rausch decided in advance of the Phila. network shutdown to release his unfinished documentary: It's about 13 minutes, and isn't edited tightly at this point, but it's rather interesting. Rausc ....... read more
Fri,
06 Jun 2008
Three Essays on Muni-Fi You Should Read
In the aftermath of the last man standing, MetroFi, announcing its metro-scale Wi-Fi endgame, three useful essays have appeared: If you're trying to understand the past, present, and future of the spa ....... read more
Tue,
20 May 2008