MetroFi claiming over 11,000 monthly users
MetroFi, despite having mixed results from local wireless Internet surfers, seems to be gaining a foothold here in Portland. It put out a press release today saying they now have over 11,000 monthly users - a 40% increase since April. It also said over 70 new free outdoor access points had been added.
Any new thoughts on MetroFi? Still getting the same mixed results? Even bothering to use it?
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Here’s an article from CNN about Portland’s Wireless woes:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/05/22/municipal.wireless.tech.ap/index.html
I tried it multiple times a few months ago after I got fed up with Comcast. I live in one of the first neighborhoods MetroFi installed their nodes in. No luck connecting in my apartment (my laptop occasionally detects MetroFi but won’t ever connect). Their website says I need an “outdoor solution” (expensive antenna) even though there are several nodes nearby. But even when I go outside within sight of where the closest node is supposed to be, I still can’t connect. MetroFi is utterly useless as far as I’m concerned. I’ve gone with Qwest DSL and won’t waste any more time with MetroFi.
Does anyone know if any public money went into this scheme? This clusterf**k has public financing (i.e., transfer of tax money to an incompetent out-of-state corporation) written all over it.
I continue to be eternally let down. Well, that’s not quite true. In my last 15 or so connection attempts, I was successful once…
Of course, is it being “let down” if it’s the expected result?
I’ve yet to hear anyone use it successfully. People living near access points can’t use it, and they don’t seem to have bothered putting it anywhere that the pdxwireless folks haven’t covered amply already.
I dream of the day I can kick comcast to the curb.
Smart planners would’ve built on what pdxwireless did, perhaps offering subsidies and instruction for people to setup their own access points, providing network infrastructure, and generally helping out. Check out http://www.personaltelco.net/static/index.html.
I live two blocks from a hot spot and have never been able to connect, and I know it’s not my computer because I’ve never had a problem connecting to any other wireless provider.
They had > 11,000 unique users in one month?
In other news, the devil has filed for disaster assistance as the furnaces have failed and sub-zero conditions have shut down his operation. Windows were broken at the Expo center when a new breed of pig, genetically modified with genes isolated by scientists from fruit bats, demonstrated the ability to fly, unfortunately not with much skill. After the break, PDC admits that Portland’s mediocre school system, crippled with excessive TIF set-asides by the PDC itself, is the biggest barrier to recruiting new high tech businesses.