AUGUST 2008: AROUND THE STATE
Another try at WiFi for Portland? Don’t bet on it
PORTLAND In early July, Portland’s year-and-a-half-long
experiment to create a citywide wireless Internet network came
to an end. Its demise was, for many, unsurprising.
The system, which was expected to cover 90% of the city,
covered perhaps as little as 12%, and even then access was
spotty or required special equipment to connect. As of July,
there were no other companies that had expressed interest in
building a similar network, says Logan Kleier, the Portland
city staffer who oversaw the project. But should another
company try again, they may have an equally difficult time.
The project was unsuccessful for a simple reason, says Kleier:
MetroFi — the Mountain View, Calif.-based company that
contracted with Portland to build the network — failed to
generate sufficient money through either of its revenue models:
free, ad-supported access to the network, or ad-free
subscription access. MetroFi did not respond to interview
requests for this story.
There were other conditions that made it difficult for MetroFi
to achieve the kind of coverage it needed to become viable,
says Russell Senior with Personal Telco, a local project
dedicated to expanding wireless networks in Portland. Last year
Senior and other members of Personal Telco analyzed the signal
of each of MetroFi’s 641 nodes (the utility-pole-mounted
hardware that formed the backbone of the network).
Their analysis showed that only 12% of the city was covered
— as opposed to MetroFi’s claim of 30%. They found
that nodes were strong enough to broadcast a signal to
people’s homes, but weren’t strong enough to
“hear” a signal from individual computers. The
nodes were so low that buildings and Portland’s many
trees stymied their communication. The resulting lack of access
meant the company couldn’t generate the advertising or
subscription dollars needed.
As for future wireless projects, Senior’s group is
developing a network built on small, individually operated
wireless hotspots. Portland-based Stephouse Networks is
providing limited free and subscription-based WiFi in downtown
and north Portland. Kleier says that the city has no plans, nor
the ability to implement something of its
own.
ABRAHAM HYATT
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