Back in 2007 MetroFi Inc, setup Wi-Fi access points (antennas) on streetlights and utility poles in Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Santa Clara, Foster City, Concord, and downtown San Jose. Then, in mid-2008 MetroFi went belly up.

Recently, Santa Clara’s Silicon Valley Power paid $205,000 for MetroFi’s Santa Clara network. Silicon Valley Power will use the Wi-Fi to collect information from the new home energy meters every fifteen minutes and in return relay immediate usage information to the customer.

The system is currently being tested on a few thousand meters; then about 45,000 residential meters and 6,000 commercial meters are expected to be installed throughout the city.

There may be challenges with using these Wi-Fi access points as meter readers, since they did a very poor job providing Wi-Fi access to Internet users; however, electricity meters are typically on the outside of homes/businesses.

The outdoor Wi-Fi service is available to residents for free Internet access. Indoor usage may require a Wi-Fi modem to boost the signal.

Connect to the SSID network name “Metro_WiFi” or “MetroFi.” Your computer may automatically discover the Wi-Fi network.