END NIGH FOR MUNI WI-FI?
[SOURCE: InformationWeek, AUTHOR: Richard Martin]
[Commentary] The news this week -- EarthLink's retrenching, Chicago's decision
to shelve (not "review," not "delay for more research," but "shelve" as in can,
eighty-six, disavow all knowledge of) its prospective citywide network, and of
course the usual posturing out of San Francisco -- would seem to indicate that
looking for signs of vitality in the municipal wireless market is like
searching for encouraging progress from the surge in Iraq. But that's not
entirely the case: Muni Wi-Fi is not dead; it's just going through a phase of,
uhh, creative destruction.
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/08/end_nigh_for_mu.html
* EarthLink to pay Houston $5M for missed deadline
[SOURCE: Houston Chronicle, AUTHOR: Carolyn Feibel]
EarthLink will pay Houston a $5 million penalty, an acknowledgment that the
Internet service provider will not meet its first deadline for building a
wireless network throughout the city, Mayor Bill White announced. The company
failed to meet its first deadline by not signing an agreement with CenterPoint
Energy to lease its utility poles for the Wi-Fi project. EarthLink now has a
nine-month window to start building the network in Houston. In the meantime,
Houston can consider offers from other vendors to build wireless for the
640-square-mile city. Whatever happens, the city will keep the $5 million, and
the city should use it to bridge the digital divide, perhaps by building
smaller "Wi-Fi bubbles" over public spaces.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5092403.html
* AT&T cancels citywide Wi-Fi plan in Springfield
AT&T has scuttled plans it had to deploy wireless Internet with some free
access throughout Springfield (IL). Other companies are still welcome to make
proposals for citywide wireless access, but there are no active negotiations.
The city has talked to Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn (D), whose office had planned to
provide a grant to the city to deploy a wireless network at the Statehouse and
downtown, but nothing definitive has been worked out.
http://www.sj-r.com/News/stories/15186.asp
* No Net Over San Francisco
Get your own wireless: Citywide wi-fi Internet proposal dies as EarthLink backs
away from deal.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/29/MNEJRRO70.DTL
* Earthlink Needs a Lifeline
The onetime high-flying ISP is running out of options as customers abandon
dial-up services for faster ways to get online
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2007/tc20070829_573797.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech
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