MetroFi Pulling the Plug
MetroFi, which provides free and low-cost wireless Internet access in the South Bay has told the nine cities it operates in that it will discontinue service in 30 to 60 days. MetroFi has offered to sell the services in each city to that city or any third party. MetroFi founder, Chuck Haas, says he is also exploring the sale of MetroFi itself to a third party.
MetroFi, like Earthlink, struggled to operate its networks, underestimating costs and overestimating revenue.
Milpitas will be taking over Earthlink’s Wi-Fi network there and cutting back on service. It will be interesting to see what transpires in Milpitas.
Concord, Cupertino, Foster City, San Jose, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale are the MetroFi cities affected in the Bay Area. If those cities or a third party does not buy the network then it will be shut down in those locations.
San Jose’s network was only located downtown. There is larger coverage area in the other Bay Area cities.
I have tried the free service on a number of occasions and found it to be sporadic. There were times I was under an access point, had trouble connecting, and when connected there were times when it crawled. I could not image paying a monthly fee just to remove the advertising banner.
With free Wi-Fi now available in many coffee shops, cafes, and libraries along with mobile broadband (not free) there are options.
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Metro was pretty terrible. It’s sad that in the heart of Silicon Valley, the concept of city wide wireless still seems like something of a luxury for its residents. The city of San Jose needs to seriously reexamine how its investing in the greater good.