It was a matter of time, but the death knell date has been set for Portland, Ore.’s Wi-Fi network: MetroFi told the city that it will turn its network off on June 30, and remove all devices by about July 30. MetroFi’s business model required most of its revenue to come from advertising shown to users of the network; they also offered ad-free service, and business services. The network never reached a scale in Portland with enough reach to hit a critical mass.
As with most Wi-Fi networks built or planned in 2005 and 2006, indoor coverage required wireless boosters, and the necessity of those signal bridges wasn’t clear to early users. That led to early adopters rejecting MetroFi’s and others’ services, which didn’t help spread use.
Wee-Fi: Portland Coverage of MetroFi; Boston’s Measured Pace
AT&T speeds up 3G network
Shut your cakehole
Atom Feed (xml)