Philadelphia wants to buy Earthlink's former hardware, keep municipal WiFi dream alive
By Tim Stevens 
posted December 17th 2009 8:54AM
posted December 17th 2009 8:54AM
It never came to pass. Philadelphia's city-wide WiFi plan was announced in 2006 and then, after struggling on for two years, died when Earthlink decided it wanted nothing to do with muni wireless. A private company called NAC bought the hardware last year and now the city wants to buy it from them for $2 million. The Mayor's Office pledges to "provide free internet in targeted public spaces," which is somewhat less aggressive than the previous city-wide reach, but ditching the $20/month that Earthlink was asking seems like a fair trade. The only question now is exactly which spaces will be targeted, and if South Street Philly Bagels doesn't make the list that's a damn shame.
it better work near Geno's and Pat's
We have muni wifi here in Burbank, CA and it really sucks.
While it does work sometimes, it's horribly maintained and has a signal that barely makes it 25 yards from the lamppost the transmitter is mounted on.
I've talked to the guys who climb the pole every now and then and they laugh at how weak the signal is.
Standing right under the thing, I get 1 bar on my iPhone.
I hope Philly fairs better.
WiMAX anyone?
I got your friggin FiWi right 'ere (grabbin balls)
EarthWHO?
It was never 20/month, cost me 3/month for 1mbps and 6/month for 3mbps. It rarely worked, and sucked a$$ on my iphone and touch because of the need to proxy your connection.
I live half a block away from South Street Philly Bagels. I'm pleased to inform you that the greatest bar in the world, O'Neal's Pub, provides free wifi right next door. You don't have to wait for Philly's wifi.
@fmcfad01 South Street Philly Bagels are very yummy. When I worked nights, I used to see the guys at 3am coming in to make 'em.
Thats good, the city is so fucking broke they have to raise sales tax... but they wanna buy piece of shit municipal Wifi.
as a philly native myself i say HELL YEAH!!! :)
I bet you they will beef up security too in those public places when people are using their gadgets to use free wifi. I would not use a laptop near love park, you might get robbed. I apologize for being so negative, but that's the truth.
go phils
they should ditch that crappy tropos and switch to belair
Huh? Then where has CLEAR procured their hardware? I figured they were the company that bought up Earthlink's trash. If Philly offers free wifi, there's no doubt they'll put CLEAR out of business. With all the marketing they've been doing I'm sure they won't be very thrilled to hear this.