Despite some recent doubts about the business model of free municipal wireless, companies like MetroFi are continuing to roll out networks. On Monday MetroFi will launch a free city-wide WiFi network in Foster City, which will be the sixth city in the Bay Area for which the company has launched services. MetroFi says Foster City will be the last WiFi network it launches before it tackles Portland.
MetroFi did manage to do a deal with AT&T earlier this year, and is backed with $9 million from investors Sevin Rosen Fund, August Capital, and Western Technology Investors and private individuals. Sevin Rosen is the same VC fund that last week threw in the towel, saying that the VC business model is broken.
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1 trackback so far
10:40 AM PT
Foster City Fully Wire(less)…
Yesterday, Foster City rolled out free city-wide Wi-Fi (supported by ads) provided by MetroFi. This makes FC the 6th city in the Bay Area to integrate such the MetroFi program. I was made aware of this yesterday when I saw…
5 comments so far
12:32 PM PT
Yey! I live on the boarder of FC and I wonder if they free signal will “leak” to me.
With MuniFi spreading more and more, what does the future hold for FON in the U.S. at least?
5:17 PM PT
I can’t wait for Google/Earthlink to do SanFran, and then the entire bay area! I was walking around SF yesterday, trying to hook in to get Liz’s phone number from an email. I kept trying one after another open airport networks, until some nearby hotel hooked me up.
GigaOM broke the story on 9/30/2005, and it was formally throughout the news in April. Then… silence. SFGate a few days ago described a public review process, probably quite tedious.
11:14 AM PT
FosterCity launch may be a big failure - people are not getting wireless access even 100 ft from the access points.
I think MetroFi hasn’t turned the service on yet - they just did a ceremonial announcement yesterday.
4:32 PM PT
I live in Foster City. I purchased the Metrofi recommended high power ethernet converter to see if I could access the internet. I get NO SIGNAL at all! I live on the third floor of a condo with my windows facing the street. The access point is 320 feet away according to Metrofi but, it is blocked by trees and possibly buildings. I thought I would be high enough that I could still get a weak signal at best, but, I get nothing. That means that no one in my building or in the buildings next to me get it and I would guess that very few of the units in my complex of 157 units will be able to get it. Not quite 95% coverage, I would say.
5:10 AM PT
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