dailywireless.org » Portland Votes MetroFi

Portland Votes MetroFi

The Portland City Council today unanimously approved a contract with MetroFi to build a citywide Wi-Fi network and make free Web access available thoughout the city.

While many cities are building city-wide Wi-Fi networks, the 500,000 citizens in Oregon’s largest city will get the option of “free” 1 Mbps wireless (with an integrated ad banner) or $19.95/month without the ads. Both tiers provide the same speed and cover the same “95 percent” of the 134 square mile city.

MetroFi says the network will cost under $10 million, with construction beginning immediately. The central and inner SE areas of the city are expected to be operational later this year with the network completed within two years. The company will finance and operate the network itself. No city money is being used to finance the project.

As reported by the Oregonian, the contract approved today by the City Council entitles the city to buy up to $16 million in wireless service from MetroFi but does not commit the city to buy anything. The city will contribute infrastructure such as rooftops and antenna towers but the light poles and “unmetered” power are being negotiated separately with the power company, PGE.

Portland Mayor Tom Potter (right), called it an “Incredibly unique opportunity for consumers, businesses and citizens.”

The city also passed a separate resolution, called the Digital Opportunity Program, that would encourage all residents to participate and benefit from the City’s wireless infrastructure through private/public partnerships. Its goals include increasing home computer ownership among low income residents and expanding opportunities for all residents.

City Commissioner Randy Leonard asked if the MetroFi contract specified a separate “digital divide” pool of money for these projects. Matt Lampe, Portland’s Chief Technology Officer (right), explained that Portland, unlike cities like Philadelphia, is offering “free” service and that no public money was being used to build the system. Therefore the need for the city to “subsidize” low cost access was minimized.

MetroFi’s Network Connectivity License and Services Agreement (PDF, 119kb) and the Nonexclusive License Agreement (PDF, 1,112kb) between the City of Portland and MetroFi, took longer to hammer out than originally anticipated but resulted in an agreement with little apparent rankor.

Although the public was welcome to testify, but no one came forward to speak for or against the Unwired Portland contract. VeriLAN CEO Clive Cook, one of the 3 finalists, did take the opportunity to make one last pitch for their wholesale approach to a city cloud. It the end, it was free service that won points for MetroFi.

MetroFi CEO Chuck Haas (left), told DailyWireless editor Sam Churchill that the project was the largest and most complex that his company has yet been involved in, almost double the size of their combined Sunnyvale, Cupertino and Santa Clara network. It will use some 2,000 SkyPilot access nodes and DragonWave 100 Mbps 24 GHz backhaul servicing clusters every 5-10 miles.

Commissioner Leonard pressed Haas on finances, asking what percent of MetroFi’s revenue would come from the city. CTO Lampe said that $16 million was their estimated maximum total over 5 years that might be spent by the city on MetroFi services. But that figure was contingent on each bureau’s budget and could be significantly less. CEO Haas said he thought some “25% of their revenue” would come from the city, but that their system did not depend on that revenue. Haas said MetroFi could survive without any revenue from the city.

MetroFi will subcontract the installation work to O’Neill Electric, to install the gear on street lights, public and private structures including buildings, water towers, and wireless masts.

The Bureau of Technology Services along with the Bureau of Purchases conducted a competitive Sealed Proposals solicitation process. A diverse evaluation committee evaluated the responses. The committee members were made up of eleven members with six members from the city, Portland Public Schools, and Tri-Met with the remaining five members from a neighborhood association and business/community members. Their evaluation judged MetroFi highest at 935 total points, Earthlink second with 870 points and VeriLAN third with 626 points.

Portland’s PersonalTelco Project put Portland’s free WiFi on the map. Don Park, president of PersonalTelco (right), and the co-founder of this website, attended the city council meeting and expressed enthusiastism and optimism over MetroFi’s proposal. Don may have more to say on the impact for PersonalTelco, later, in this space.

The two organizations have quite different functions. PersonalTelco provides free internet connectivity (without ads) for coffee shops, small businesses and individuals who want to share their internet service. MetroFi does not generally penetrate indoors. An external antenna may be necessary for anyone above 2 stories or far from a window.

The non-exclusive license agreement has a 10 year term and is expected to improve the quality of life for Portland citizens, affordably link Portland School district schools, help bridge the digital divide and create opportunities for businesses locating within Portland’s borders, and increase access to education. Portland retains the right to purchase the same or similar services from other providers.

Tropos gear, which uses a single radio for both the mesh and local access, is used by Google in Mountain View (above) and a variety of Earthlink wins such as Anaheim and Philadelphia.

MetroFi is building “free” networks in Cupertino, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale, using SkyPilot gear. Their access points use a separate 5 GHz radio for interconnecting nodes without wires (mesh networking). Skypilot gear is also used in Aurora IL, Brookline MA and Foster City CA.

Many observers are skeptical of MetroFi’s “free” model. How it will work technically, financially and practically in a city with 500,000 people is largely unknown. The next two years should be interesting.