After watching this process play out for nearly four years it’s no surprise that the Milwaukee Wi-Fi plans, which I’ve been covering since day one, have pretty much been put to a quiet death:
Plans for wireless Internet access blanketing Milwaukee have stalled and won’t be completed unless major financial sponsors step forward – something that doesn’t seem likely, city officials say, as similar systems are failing.
For all practical purposes, the plans have “stopped dead in the water,” Ald. Robert Bauman said, adding that city government has no intention of sinking millions of dollars into a Wi-Fi wireless system. – Journal Sentinel
For what it’s worth, it was never the intent of the Government to sink any money into this project. The company who proposed the deal, Midwest Fiber Networks, originally promised that they’d take care of everything if only the city would grant it rights to the municipal fiber network – the backbone of the wireless plan.
As I and a number of others pointed out at the time, letting Midwest Fiber have that kind of freedom would only hurt the city and it’s residents in the long run.
Unfortunately I was right, and now because of this failure, it’s going to be extremely difficult to get buy-in from municipal government anytime in the near future.
I live in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Milwaukee, WI with my wife Jen, our daughter Emerson, and sons Carter and Colton.
It could still be done, but the business model’s all wrong. ATT is signing people up at the rate of $25/month, TimeWarner at $45/month. If they would drop this crazy “free wireless” approach and instead sell it at, say, $15-$20 they’d attract customers from both of the other services. There might even be enough extra to create subsidies for those unable to pay even that much.
There’s definitely a market out there, Minneapolis proves that. Attract even 40,000 homes at $20/month an you’re talking nearly $10mil annual income. Sell a few extra doodads to institutions and there’s a solid business there.
Like you I was extremely skeptical about the whole scheme to begin with. I didn’t see where the money was coming to support the expenditures it would take. Unlike you I hoped I was wrong, but it appears I wasn’t.
The question that should be asked right now is what benefit is Midwest getting out of the fiber net the city has given them. Since they’ve abandoned the plan which was the reason the city granted them access to it, I think it’s a fair question to ask what benefits they acquired for themselves while failing to perform, and if necessary demand adequate compensation for it.
More details about the differences between Portland and Minneapolis can give the next group the information required to make a better go of it. (Portland’s failure puzzles me; I thought that one was on a more solid footing than even Minneapolis was. Cases that look good and still fail are the best cases to learn from.)