Better enjoy that free Portland Wi-Fi while you can…the Oregonian ^[1] and the Portland Business Journal ^[2] are both reporting the network may soon be sold to the city or shutdown. Word is MetroFi has decided to walk from the deal and is offering to sell the network to the city for $894,000! The company said it will be yank its equipment at the end of June if the city or someone else doesn’t pick up the tab.

This really seems like a crap move by MetroFi, especially when you consider this word of news ^[3] that the company will be selling its nine city networks across the country. This move casts doubt, I think, on the viability of metro-wide Wi-Fi. We still have all those Personal Telco network hubs ^[1] out there, but if you aren’t near one and don’t have another way to access the Internet, you’ll probably soon be out of luck.