City to exit wireless projectFirm underestimated hardware it would take, Charleston official says By Kyle Stock
The Post and Courier
Friday, October 5, 2007
Firm underestimated hardware it would take, Charleston official says The city of Charleston plans to unplug its tiny patch of free wireless Internet service Wednesday, two years after it announced an ambitious plan to weave a blanket of cyber signals over the peninsula. The city will terminate its contract with Widespread Access LLC, a Mount Pleasant telecommunications firm that pledged in September 2004 to build and pay for most of the so-called Wi-Fi infrastructure, in exchange for the right to sell faster Internet service to residents plugging into the signal. Widespread Access underestimated how much hardware it would require to build the grid and did not have the financial capacity to see the project through, according to Ernest Andrade, the city economic development official in charge of the Wi-Fi initiative. "The current project is not a failure," Andrade said. "Where it works, it works. It just hasn't been expanded." Widespread Access could not be reached for comment Thursday. Evening Post Publishing Co., which owns The Post and Courier, has also cut ties to the project, said Ward Lassoe, president of the media firm's digital division. Evening Post was a silent partner with Widespread Access, investing about $200,000 in exchange for the right to develop the online page that Web surfers first see when signing on to the network. The two companies have collectively spent about $500,000 on the Wi-Fi venture, according to Lassoe. The city's plan originally was pitched as a bold initiative to attract and empower small businesses and close the so-called digital divide by plugging poor households into the Internet. Its contract with Widespread Access — which lined up private-sector financing for a proposed public service — was considered to be at the industry vanguard and was held up as a model for other communities nationwide. But spreading an Internet signal through dense peninsula neighborhoods would require three times as many antennas as Widespread Access first estimated, according to Andrade, and city planners took issue with some of the company's antennas. The streets around the Medical University of South Carolina are the only areas that have the signal, and the network is tapped into only about 200 times a day. Communities nationwide have struggled with similar problems. Tim Wu, a professor at Columbia Law School, recently called municipal Wi-Fi "telecom's Bay of Pigs" in an article he wrote for Slate.com. Wu noted that ambitious public Internet projects in a number of cities have died when a private-sector provider ran into trouble. "We were a little overly optimistic," Lassoe said. "... Unfortunately, we're in good company." Early this year, the city started talking to two out-of-state firms about picking up the Wi-Fi project where it had sputtered to a stop. Andrade said Thursday that those negotiations are continuing, though a new service provider will likely charge for the signal. "My objectives haven't changed a bit," he said. "We're not going to abandon something that holds such promise." Reach Kyle Stock at 937-5763 or kstock@postandcourier.com. |
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Comments
This article has 9 comment(s)
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Posted by Neponset on October 5, 2007 at 4:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't think gov. should try to take business away from the private sector that has spent millions connecting users up to high speed service. The private sector provides exellent service, but it doesn't come cheap (I use Comcast). There is no free lunch out there. Turn this project over to the likes of Comcast, Knowlogy etc. and let them develope the technology to produce this wifi service - perhaps the wires that they have in place could be used as an antenne for slow speed service similar to what was promised by this now defunct service with the option for high speed service for a fee.
Posted by majorjohnson on October 5, 2007 at 8:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This is government run amok. It's not the city's job to provide wireless networks, and it's stealing money from the private sector, costing tax dollars from people who won't use it to supply a service for a few. How about the city opens up some dry cleaners as well...donut shops, bars, restaurants? Who needs private industry when you have government?
Posted by Strider on October 5, 2007 at 8:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm sorry to disagree but the government serves the people so I feel this was a worthy project. I'm not saying I'm completely in agreement with it but its a better idea to keep the government busy with something like this than other more stupid and wasteful ideas. Actually, I feel we should put more money into our education and legal systems (both of these systems are woefully behind in technology). Let's see, Education system (2nd worst in the nation) check
Legal system (no technology and jails brimming) check
Some of the worst roads in the nation check
We can do better than this!
Posted by icbmman on October 5, 2007 at 9:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Strider, I have to disagree; the Internet is a privilege, not a right, so the government does not need to provide it. This project was wrong from the beginning, because through the years, we see that the private sector does a better job of offering services. The revenue they generate goes back into improving their product. Unfortunately, government doesn't run like this.
I'll agree with you about the government's priorities, though: better fire departments, better police protection, and better roads...the government should spend more money on these things.
Posted by whycantitbebetterhere on October 5, 2007 at 10:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
USA Today reported last week that projects just like this one were being abandoned all over the country. What happened here is no different.
Posted by DCartisan on October 5, 2007 at 12:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't remember reading where the city invested any money in this thing. Am I missing something or did the P&C & others invest money to make this thing happen. I think the city's contract gave them permission to be the exclusive provider of Wi-Fi only. Show me where they had to put any money in.
Posted by Neponset on October 5, 2007 at 1:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
DCartisan
You are right, the city did not put up any money, but the city probably came up with the idea or latched onto it, encouraged it, gave them permission to go ahead and if it had succeeded - the city (Joe) would have gotten credit as the champion of the unfortunate poor who couldn't/wouldn't come up with the $50+ bucks per month that high speed internet service cost. How about the poor using dial up (about $9.95 per month) - surely they have a land line.
Posted by exorcist_pencocky on October 5, 2007 at 7:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The city of charleston, slowly sinks deeper and deep, into the joseph p. riley, jr. muck.
Posted by jerseylegal on October 5, 2007 at 10:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Southern slowness and backwardness prevails once again in Charleston.