Advertisement
Products & Newsletters
Earthlink Pulling the Plug on Philadelphia Wi-fi
Philadelphia - May 15, 2008 - According to wirelessphiladelphia.org, Wireless Philadelphia Digital Inclusion has notified its members and subscribers that Earthlink intends to terminate Wi-fi service in that city. Earthlink will provide customers a 30-day transition period through June 12, 2008, and all Digital Inclusion customers will be eligible for one year of free Internet access via dial-up through June 2009.
Philadelphia officials announced their plans for a citywide Wi-fi hot spot, making high-speed Internet access available in poor communities, in 2004. Cities around the world began taking notice. The contract, finalized in early 2006, between the city and Earthlink agreed to charge $21.95/month (and half that to low-income households) for the service. Earthlink paid for building the network and said it would pay rent to the city for the use of light posts where the equipment would hang. However, according to the Associated Press, the technology proved unreliable and difficult to deploy. Atlanta-based Earthlink gave notice to the city after it could not find a buyer for the $17 million network.
Earthlink's lawsuit against the city claims the company has only 5,942 subscribers in Philadelphia out of a projected minimum of 100,000. The company is losing $200,000/month with the subscriber fees covering less than half of the operating costs.
Earthlink has similarly pulled out of Wi-fi ventures in San Francisco, Houston, Chicago and other cities, according to USA Today.
Wireless Philadelphia stresses that it is aggressively working to prevent the deadline from being imposed and at the same time solidify a replacement for Earthlink's Wi-fi service prior to that date.
For more on this news story, visit The Associated Press; or the Washington Post.
Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2008 Penton Media Inc.
Webinars
Critical Aspects of Tower Site Safety
Learn the steps you can take to ensure a safe working environment at a tower site.
33 1/3 Things You Forgot
Think wire is just wire? Think again.
Advertisement
Podcast Archives
Radio Currents Podcast, Oct 6
The House passes the Webcaster Settlement Act, another House bills looks to require HD Radio in all radio receivers, and the NAB Radio Show announces attendance figures.
Radio Currents Podcast, Sep 29
The FCC accepts method modeling for AM directionals, a CAP profile for EAS devices is released, the NRSC posts reports, and Rick Rapalee is named the DOE for Entercom Sacramento.
Blog
Talkback: The Radio Blog
Talkback, the Radio magazine blog, is your chance to post and comment on technical issues in radio.
Projects in Progress
Projects in Progress tracks facility installation projects from start to finish. Follow the progress of the WUVT-FM transmitter site upgrade.
Today in Radio History
Milestones From Radio's Past
The history of radio broadcasting extends beyond the work of a few famous inventors.
Current Issue
Clean up the Audio
Advancement of codec design has allowed lower bit-rates to be employed, and most codecs sound decent at these rates, but they are much more fragile with regards to distortion and susceptible to artifacts.






