At least there are officials admitting to a bad idea:
PHILADELPHIA – EarthLink Inc. is pulling the plug on its troubled wireless high-speed Internet network in Philadelphia, once touted as a model for how big cities should deploy Wi-Fi.
EarthLink,
which once pinned its future on municipal networks such as
Philadelphia’s following rapid declines in its dial-up Internet access
business, said Tuesday that it could not find a buyer for the $17
million network and that talks to give it to either the city or a
nonprofit organization had failed.
which once pinned its future on municipal networks such as
Philadelphia’s following rapid declines in its dial-up Internet access
business, said Tuesday that it could not find a buyer for the $17
million network and that talks to give it to either the city or a
nonprofit organization had failed.
City officials have said it would cost taxpayers millions of dollars each year to operate the network.
“It’s been an unfortunate situation,” Chief Executive Officer Rolla
Huff told The Associated Press. “It was a great idea a few years ago,
… but it’s an idea that simply didn’t make it.”
