Philadelphia Magazine recently published a behind-the-scenes look at why "Philadelphia Wireless" failed to take off like its early proponents claimed it would. I've posted plenty about the perils of muni wi-fi -- city-wide and city-run wireless internet networks -- and referenced several other cities that have faced similar problems. It's safe to say that the failures of muni wi-fi are vast and obvious, while any successes are small and fleeting.
The Phily Mag article boils down the city's failure to a few key reasons:
- faulty numbers and unrealistic expectations (85,000 subscribers were expected to join the first year -- it topped out at under 6,000),
- the plan ignored the need and cost for technicians or service
- the frequency couldn't penetrate thick walls, or heights, or obstructions,
- there weren't adequate security considerations,
- there was nothing to protect the city should Earthlink, the company the city forged an unprecedented alliance with, abandon the plan,
- and, by the time the network was up and running, new, more powerful "WiMax" technology was rising.
I suppose one good thing that came from the Phily debacle was that, even as the price of installing the system tripled, Comcast and Verizon both reduced their prices to rates better than what Earthlink was offering for service that was a fraction of their speeds. Then again, since taxpayers were mostly on the hook for covering the ballooning cost of the project, maybe it was a wash in the end.
Speaking of WiMax, today the Seattle Times mentions the new Sprint/Clearwire laptop serice. Sure, it is not free like Philadelphia's ad-supported network. But then again, it actually works.