How the City of Portland sold out and dropped the ball on free wi-fi

Remember all the buzz about citywide free wi-fi (wireless Internet) in Portland? How could anyone help but be excited by the prospect? Or at least intrigued. Portland was going to not only bridge the digital divide -- we were going to fill the damn divide and put a public park in its place. With a bioswale surrounding the bus stop and bicycle parking shelter. Well, it was a nice thought. Instead of free wi-fi, we got a dial-up speed advertising channel. And for many (most?) of us, those ads come crawling onto our screens at the price of a $119 Wireless Access Gateway.

MetroFi launched its network in Portland in December 2006 following a November 14, 2006 press release that begins:

Microsoft Corp. and MetroFi Inc. today announced a strategic alliance to bring locally relevant MSN® content and services to MetroFi's advertising-supported, free Wi-Fi network throughout Portland, Ore. The two companies also plan to use the Microsoft® adCenter platform to help advertisers reach local Wi-Fi users...

Clearly a network by the people for the people. Oh wait, that would be the Personal Telco Project. (Let me make it clear that I am in no way affiliated with Personal Telco and have no ax to grind on their behalf.) But I'll get to that. MetroFi Inc. has been, from its inception, a for-profit corporate entity in the business of making money. It does this by persuading cities to give it the wireless key to the city so that they can keep up with "nearly a dozen, forward-looking cities across the U.S." The only forward-looking Portland residents are doing relative to MetroFi is looking forward to MetroFi either getting its act together or getting out so we can get back to doing it right: locally and organically.

Wait... Isn't MetroFi local? Nope. They're happily nestled on Clyde Avenue in Mountain View, California. But hey, at least they're in it for the right reasons... Right? Well of course they are! Three very big reasons:

August Capital
...our partners have financed technology companies with an aggregate market capitalization of over $400 billion. These companies generate $75 billion in annual revenue and employ 240,000 people around the world.

Sevin Rosen Funds
Over the past twenty-one years, SRF has employed a unique blend of technical vision and operational expertise to identify, at a very early stage, the potential of such companies as Compaq, Lotus Development, Cypress Semiconductor, Citrix, CIENA, and Capstone Turbine.

Western Technology
Western Technology's investment team has originated over $1.5 billion dollars in transactions with more than 500 companies.

These aren't charitable non-profits. So why is MetroFi a company that investment bigwigs like this see value in? It's called advertising -- to an audience that is literally captive. MetroFi was to be Internet access for everyone. Instead, it's Internet access for everyone that has the patience to wait for Web pages to crawl onto their screen, sandwiched between and surrounded by lucrative advertisements.

From a June 6, 2007 press release:

"This is an exciting time for our Portland network," says MetroFi Vice President of Marketing, Adrian van Haaften. "We're growing and hitting milestones faster than anticipated, and are looking forward to what the months ahead will bring: more users, more advertisers, and more applications of municipal Wi-Fi."

Ah, more users. And more advertisers! Wooohooo!

So I guess that's you and me: an affluent and influential online consumer demographic. Feels good, doesn't it? To be both affluent and influential. I'm sure that's exactly who all the good souls with great intentions had in mind when they thought of free, citywide wireless Internet access for Portland. They must really be feeling the warm fuzzies now.

So just what does this ad-supported wi-fi look like? If you've been fortunate enough to not need MetroFi, allow me to give you a brief overview -- in MetroFi's own words.

First, there is the "Persistent Ad Banner." This "launches when a user logs on to the Internet within a MetroFi network coverage zone. The banner remains in the top 90 pixels of a network user's browser screen as they traverse the Internet, and advertisements rotate within it. MetroFi banner ads do not get lost 'below the fold,' and do not alter or rely upon the websites a user visits." Translation: It shows up as soon as you get on the network and never goes away.

Then there are the wonderful "Interstitials." This is a relatively innocuous sounding word which translates into normal English as "obnoxious, intrusive commercial." But let's let MetroFi speak for themselves about interstitials (emphasis added):

MetroFi also offers advertisers a highly effective full page ad placement, served as an interstitial several times per hour, per user, as they transition from one website to another. These ads can be in rich media format and generally display for at least 15 seconds, before redirecting to the user's intended web page. A great way for the advertiser to connect to its target audience!
- Rotated into network user's screen 1-4 times per hour
- Focuses consumer's attention to your advertising message

That last line has to be one of the best I've heard. Focuses consumer's attention to your advertising message. That's like saying that waterboarding focuses subject's attention to your question. Interstials were a very bad idea that every other major website abandoned a long time ago as it is indefensibly obnoxious and a sure way to drive customers away. But MetroFi doesn't have to worry about that. They're offering a free service.

So what exactly do we affluent and influential types look like? Well, according to the demographics data for advertisers on the MetroFi website, those of us using MetroFi in Portland break down as shown in the chart here.

- 7 out of 10 users are male
- over half are hitched
- we all have at least some college
- 90% of us have jobs
- almost half of us make more than $70,000 a year, with 10% making more than $150,000 a year
- the other 54% makes less than $70,000 a year

I just love that. The lowest income number they're willing to show is $70,000. Those poor folks. They definitely need the free wi-fi.

So what am I on about here? I want truly free wi-fi for everyone. Including those who make less than less than $70,000 per year. Including those who have less than some college education.

And I want wi-fi that works. I don't want people who make less than less than $70,000 per year to have to pay $119 for a booster so they can get free wi-fi so they can watch a page full of ads paint slowly onto their computer screen. I don't want the driver for free wi-fi to be the affluent and influential consumers who are worth showing ads to.

In short, I want Portland to get back to supporting the people who were doing exactly that: the Personal Telco Project. Never heard of them? Please change that now by visiting their website:

We are a volunteer group of Portlanders who believe that 802.11 (wireless networking, or "Wi-Fi") technology is both cool and empowering. We started out by turning our own houses and apartments into wireless hot spots (also referred to as "nodes"), and then set about building these nodes in public locations such as parks and coffee shops. Currently we have over 100 active nodes, and we eventually would like to cover the entire city of Portland, Oregon with even more.

Personal Telco Project

Portland deserves free wireless Internet access for everyone. MetroFi is the johnny-come-lately illusion of free wi-fi. Personal Telco Project is the genuine article. They've been doing it -- with no fanfare -- for years. Let's give them the attention and support that they richly deserve.

Comments

[A little bird]

I also tried out MetroFi a couple of times and it sucked. Personal Telco is a much better way to go. Thanks for the reminder!

[Hawthorne]

What you said, right on.

Hilarious that you were linked to by Bojack. Separated at birth? ;)

[no one in particular]

FWIW, the education numbers only add up to 90%, so presumably the other 10% are "no college".

[b!X]

"MetroFi was to be Internet access for everyone. Instead, it's Internet access for everyone that has the patience to wait for Web pages to crawl onto their screen, sandwiched between and surrounded by lucrative advertisements."

Um, well, no. MetroFi was always going to be "Internet access for everyone that has the patience to wait for Web pages to crawl onto their screen, sandwiched between and surrounded by lucrative advertisements".

We knew that going in, when the city chose them over the competing bidders. It's why I didn't support them.

Funnily enough, down at East Bank Saloon recently, I could not for the life of me get the MetroFi link to work. But the VeriLAN network in the area? Flawless and fast.

VeriLAN was not chosen, although it was a competing bidder.

[John Fairplay]

I hate to break it to you, but there's no such thing as "free" Wi-Fi. It's going to cost someone something if Portland persists in this nonsense, so be sure and remember who it will probably be - the taxpayers, who get no benefit but all the costs - in your prayers.

[Brian]

The commenter above is right - there's no such thing as free wifi. Either advertisers or the City pays. If Portland wants free public internet access, the taxpayers need to pony up. The City isn't going to get the service they want unless they pay for it themselves.

So the question becomes is free public wifi a higher priority than funding jail beds, keeping police precincts open, etc?

[Rusty]

I talked a lot about Metro-Fi back when I was a blogger at the Portland Metroblog (if you're interested, you can read them at http://portland.metblogs.com , just type "metro-fi" into the search box).

I never focussed on the ad-based content or the greed of the investors because, frankly, my primary issue is that, at least until recently, I've never been able to get reliable access, even within line-of-sight of a node. And a lot of people have the same issue.

Even now, I can't get access to the node that's 50' from my house, even when I'm parked under it's phone pole.

Some areas of town have it better. I wonder if that's by design?

[billbarstad]

I'm surprised that MetroFi hasn't blocked this page!

[dyspeptic]

Totally agree that we should be supporting Personal Telco Project. MetroFi will go the way of the dinos, because its service stinks and its business model is evil. What is most evil about the whole thing, though, is that until the city council is willing to admit what a total stinker this thing is, real municipal wi-fi will be out of reach.

[Michael Weinberg]

Hi Steve et al. Thanks for the shout outs to Personal Telco. I'm sure everyone involved appreciates the recognition. I would like to make clear that while Steve is not grinding and ax for us, we also do not have an ax to grind over the MetroFi thing.

Personal Telco has been around for years, and while we were likely a part of the inspiration for the city's wireless RFP, we certainly didn't have any interest in trying to take it on.

We'll continue to teach and learn all we can about community built networks, and while our volunteers may point out obvious flaws with other wireless deployments along the way, we're focused on the greater good of empowering Portland's residents to establish their own communication options, and not worrying too much about commercial outfits that try to make a buck in Portland.

That being said, we really would love your support. We have monthly meetings the last Wednesday of every month (except December), at the Urban Grind at NE Oregon and 22nd Ave. They start between 6 and 6:30, and it's a great way to meet the people behind Personal Telco and find out how you can help. You can also contact us via our website, www.personaltelco.net.

Thanks for your support!

Michael Weinberg
Personal Telco Spokesperson

[Steve]

[Editor: I wrote this comment and posted it before seeing Michael's comment above as they were submitted almost simultaneously.]

Thanks for stopping by and for your comments. What I should have said in my post is that I know that nothing is free. That's why I've donated to Personal Telco on a number of occasions. I think Personal Telco could cover Portland with donations alone, including continuing support from companies like Easystreet.

I don't know the whole story behind Personal Telco bidding for the citywide wireless project (and don't claim that this is an exhaustively researched piece - it's a personal opinion piece based on my own experience and what I've heard from others), but I do know that they're local, have been around for years, and have done a hell of a lot with very little. And I don't think any of them have quit their day jobs. It's pretty much a labor of love. I'd be perfectly happy with the city getting behind them and compensating them for rolling this out citywide and I have to think - still based on personal experience - that they'd do a far, far better job than MetroFi.

[Will Von Wizzlepig]

I agree it would be nice to have a good wi-fi connection anywhere I went (even moreso if I actually left my house with my wireless laptop), however, I think this is an exercise in expectations.

We hear the 'city' is rolling out city-wide 'free' wi-fi. My first reaction is: what the hell does the city need to do that for?

In the end, the fact that the city is involved at all is basically meaningless. Some businessmen somewhere needed an 'in' to get their crappy service stuck up on all the city's lightpoles in downtown Portland, and by giving 'the city' a reach-around somewhere else (I'm sure), they were able to convince 'the city' to cooperate.

I know this is just a re-wording of the other posts, but the angle is important. Giant corporations steamrolled the city into promoting their garbage product which without city endorsement could not have been put up on all the city lightpoles. When it all goes down the drain a few years from now and the robber-baron CEOs have cleaned out all the excess cash they drummed up, The Personal Telco Project (unaffiliated, but a kindred spirit) will still be there for us.

[Russell Senior]

Just to clarify, the Personal Telco Project was *not* a bidder on the Unwire Portland RFP.

Also, the extent to which PTP "will still be there for us" will be determined by how involved people in the community become. PTP is not necessarily a bottomless well of goodwill to be tapped, unless people help to keep it that way. Get involved.