After two years of construction and planning for a citywide, 134-square-mile “wireless cloud,” Portland’s free Internet is now offline.
Last week, MetroFi, a California-based Internet access company, cut ties with Portland, leaving more than 15,000 users without free service, according to city-official estimates.
MetroFi said Portland was supposed to be its flagship operation, and that it was the one city that could actually make the concept a reality. Nine cities across the United States, besides Portland, are now facing the possibility of losing their access to municipal Wi-Fi service provided by MetroFi.
Six months ago, MetroFi asked citizens and local businesses for help with funding, citing a lack of profit. After Portland refused to spend tax dollars on the project, MetroFi became reclusive and hard to get a hold of, said Brendan Finn, chief of staff to city commissioner Dan Saltzman.
MetroFi has lost anywhere from 2 to 3 million dollars throughout the entire project, according to a recent article by The Oregonian.
“Due to our substantial loss in funds in such a short amount of time, we had no other choice,” said Lucie Poulicakos, vice president of operations for MetroFi.
In a recent letter sent to city officials, MetroFi laid out three options for the future of the MetroFi system.
The first would force the city of Portland to purchase the remainder of the project for about $900,000. The second would have a third party purchase the contract from MetroFi, then assume responsibility for the completion of the wireless cloud. The third would be to shut down operations altogether.
In that letter, MetroFi is proposing a price of $1,500 per access point or hot spot–$894,000 in total.
While other cities failed because of their lack of citizen support, Finn said Portland has the highest Internet usage in the country. This is calculated by the number of active members using the Internet per capita.
“No matter what happens with MetroFi, we will continue to seek other ways of providing Portlanders with free Internet access,” said Finn, who is also lead adviser and manager of policy relating to sustainable development, urban planning, land use and telecommunications for Saltzman’s office. “I have talked to numerous people that relied heavily on MetroFi’s free Internet. For them, this was their source for what’s going on in the world.”
According to a May 19 article by Information Week, a weekly business-technology magazine, MetroFi CEO Chuck Haas is looking to sell all nine networks or close them down.
Portland officials decided to go with MetroFi because it was the only provider that offered free access.
Earthlink was the other option, but it could only offer access for $19.99 per month, Finn said. He said with MetroFi closing down, 30 percent of the contractually agreed upon area was actually covered.
Poulicakos said MetroFi is currently speaking with third-party providers that may be interested in purchasing the project from the company.
“As it relates to the announcement we sent out to our users, it is with regret that we will be terminating our connection,” Poulicakos said. “But we can’t operate when we are losing money.”
Despite the promise from MetroFi to help find a solution, Finn said the bottom line is that as of right now, more than 10,000 users are without access to the Internet and that was not part of MetroFi’s contract.
“Now we are getting into some serious legal matters,” Finn said. “We want to find out what they are contractually obligated to do and hold them to that responsibility.”
Currently, city officials such as Dan Saltzman are speaking with other providers who may be willing to continue the city’s transition to free Internet.
The Personal Telco Project is one of those options.
Starting in 2000, a group of volunteer Portlanders began converting their homes to wireless hubs, making their access available to neighbors or anyone else within close proximity. The idea is increasing in popularity and has amassed more than 100 active hotspots.
According to Finn, the Personal Telco Project now covers the East Side Mississippi district from Skidmore to Freemont. He also said the city is working closely with Personal Telco to observe how and why the project has become so successful.