Municipal Wi-fi hits some bumps
A year ago, it seemed like most major U.S. cities were drawing up plans to build wireless Internet networks so more people could have get wherever they wanted. But the dream of blanketing American cities with Wi-fi now looks like it's in trouble.
High-profile projects in San Francisco, Chicago and St. Louis have unraveled, while the same thing appears to be happening in Houston. Part of the problem is that Internet service provider Earthlink, which had been one of the chief evangelists in the movement to cover cities with Wi-fi, has decided it can no longer afford to foot the bill by itself as the company tries to bounce back from $46 million in losses during the first half of this year.
Esme Vos, founder of a Web site that tracks trends in the municipal wireless industry, says cities and companies are rethinking the models they're adopting.
