Novas dificuldades para instalação de Wi-Fi em cidades americanas

O artigo de Reinhardt Krause, publicado no Yahoo! News , trata das dificuldades encontradas em algumas cidades para a implementação da rede Wi-Fi. Algumas, como São Francisco, abortaram a instalação da internet sem fio. A dica veio do Observatório das Cibercidades.

Abaixo alguns trechos do artigo.

"Phone and cable companies have reason to cheer: Municipal Wi-Fi projects that would have undercut their broadband services are being aborted or shut down.

The muni Wi-Fi projects aimed to provide free or cut-rate wireless Internet access. A year ago, cities rushed to announce Wi-Fi build-outs. Now they're rushing to cancel, as costs proved higher -- and demand lower -- than expected.On Wednesday, San Francisco officially scrapped its Wi-Fi plans. Chicago and Milwaukee recently shelved Wi-Fi projects. Other projects, such as Houston's, are comatose. Philadelphia's build-out, about half-done, has slowed to a crawl. Cincinnati's is on hold...

While phone and cable companies may have dodged the muni Wi-Fi bullet, other wireless broadband rivals are still gunning for them.

Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S - News) and Clearwire (NasdaqGS:CLWR - News) are building broadband networks using WiMax technology, a faster, long-range version of Wi-Fi.

The Federal Communications Commission plans to auction a big chunk of wireless spectrum in January. Google (NasdaqGS:GOOG - News) has said it might bid. Apple (NasdaqGS:AAPL - News) also might make a run for the airwaves. What Google or Apple would do with the airwaves isn't known.

Muni Wi-Fi's woes could put fear into companies thinking of jumping into the telecom game."It will cause them to think twice about a bid and what it means to be a wireless broadband provider," Hodulik said.What happened to the grand plans for muni Wi-Fi in big cities?"The muni guys probably overestimated demand and underestimated the costs of building and maintaining a network," Hodulik said.

"Anybody building a new network will want to make sure they don't make the same mistake."EarthLink (NasdaqGS:ELNK - News), an Internet service provider whose dial-up business has withered as broadband has advanced, plunged into a dozen muni Wi-Fi projects.

The basic service would be free, but EarthLink hoped to profit by charging users $20 a month for a premium version.In late August, EarthLink reversed course. EarthLink says it is no longer willing to pay the upfront costs of constructing Wi-Fi networks. The ISP says cities will have to ante up the money themselves. That's probably not going to happen, observers say, with San Francisco the most prominent example.

She says muni Wi-Fi services are still a good option for rural areas that lack broadband service from cable or phone companies.But cities have learned the hard way that the goal of providing free or nearly free Internet access isn't a valid reason to jump into Wi-Fi, says Craig Settles, an Oakland, Calif.-based consultant.

"The utopian world of free wireless everywhere was just silly," he said.For muni Wi-Fi projects to move forward, cities or counties will have to agree to stay on as anchor tenants, he says. That means they'll be the primary users, either for public safety or other purposes.Settles says cities that view public Wi-Fi as vital to economic development might scrounge up funds to continue build-outs.

"Everyone looks at consumer (demand), but that's not how Philadelphia started out," he said. Philadelphia, the first big city to announce a Wi-Fi project, envisioned it largely as an economic development tool for businesses.EarthLink's $20 premium Wi-Fi service option ran into trouble because low-end, digital subscriber line service from phone companies cost about the same, analysts say. And muni Wi-Fi users have complained of spotty coverage and poor in-building reception.

Even so, Google and others should be cautious given muni Wi-Fi's setbacks, Shapiro says.

"They want to learn the lessons of EarthLink's failure," he said. "They need to be realistic and conservative about their financial projections, but not necessarily conservative about their business model. They want to be innovative. Both Google and Apple have unique strengths."