NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Failed Portland Municipal Wi-Fi system comes down
----- Forwarded message from Dave Farber <dave@farber.net> ----- Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:47:20 -0500 From: Dave Farber <dave@farber.net> Subject: [IP] PortlandWiFi Reply-To: dave@farber.net To: ip <ip@v2.listbox.com> Begin forwarded message: > From: Stan Hanks <stan@colventures.com> > Date: January 19, 2010 6:28:39 PM EST > To: dave@farber.net > Subject: FW: PortlandWiFi > > The end of a long, bad road… > > > > > > Portland set to dismantle, donate abandoned Wi-Fi antennas > > By Mike Rogoway, The Oregonian > > January 19, 2010, 2:44PM > > > <image001.jpg>Oregonian file photoNineteen months after Portland's > ill-fated Wi-Fi network shut down, officials are finally preparing to > dismantle the hundreds of Wi-Fi antennas still perched atop Portland's > traffic signals and streetlights. > > The city intends to donate the first batch of decommissioned antennas to > the Personal Telco Project, a volunteer group that hopes to put them > back in service on a limited basis with a better-designed network. > > "We need partners to help find places to put these things," said > Russell Senior, Personal Telco's president. "It might be a neighborhood > association, or it might be someone who wants coverage in a particular > area." > > Portland commissioned a Silicon Valley startup, MetroFi, to build the > free network in 2005. The city hoped to provide free, high-speed > wireless Internet access all over town. > > MetroFi promised to build the network at its own expense, hoping to > fund the project by selling ads on its system. The privately held > company said it spent between $2 million and $3 million on Portland's > network, which launched late in 2006. > > Technical problems plagued the project from the start, though, and > residents found they were unable to reliably connect to the antennas -- > especially indoors. > > MetroFi shut the network down in June 2008 and liquidated its business > later that year through a legal process similar to bankruptcy, leaving > more than 600 antennas scattered around the city -- primarily downtown > and in Southeast Portland. > > Portland waited until the antennas were legally forfeit before setting > plans to take them down. City crews have already removed about a dozen, > according to city staffer Logan Kleier, and work crews will take down > about 80 more on traffic signals and other city property over the next > couple months. > > Most of the antennas are on streetlights owned by Portland General > Electric. Portland will hire contractors to remove those, according to > Kleier. > > MetroFi posted a $30,000 bond to cover the cost of antenna removal, but > technical experts estimate it will cost more than twice that to take > down all the antennas on utility poles. > > Senior, Personal Telco's president, said he explored whether the > antennas had any market value by tracking eBay sales. Most recently, he > said, a batch of five similar antennas was selling for 99 cents online. > > "Whatever the market was for it is completely saturated and they have no > resale value whatsoever," he said. > > That doesn't mean they're useless, though. Senior inspected several > antennas that the city has already removed and found them in good > working order. > > "I haven't seen any corrosion or anything like that. They're weather > tight," he said. "Of course, there's bird droppings and stuff -- grime > and grit from the traffic outside." > > While MetroFi's network proved unreliable, Senior said the antennas -- > manufactured by a company called SkyPilot -- are technically sound. The > key to making them function properly, he said, would be a less ambitious > network serving a smaller area. > > "In order to make it really work, you'd have to make it more dense," > Senior said. > > If a collection of neighbors, a nonprofit organization or some other > group wanted to fund a robust broadband connection, Senior said > Personal Telco could deploy the old MetroFi antennas to blanket a > modest area with fast Web access. > > Alternately, Personal Telco, which has set up dozens of free Wi-Fi > hotspots around Portland, could carve up the old antennas and use the > innards to maintain other networks. > > "If we can't use them intact," Senior said, "we can take them apart and > use the parts." ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com ----- End forwarded message -----