Portland on road to free Wi-Fi for all

PORTLAND — Portland is a step closer to having free wireless Internet service available across the city.

It's been working for years to become one of the first big cities to make free Wi-Fi universal. City officials said this week they've selected MetroFi of Mountain View, Calif., to administer the project.

The city envisions all residents having access to the service by the end of next year.

The network is intended to improve some wireless city services and create an alternative for people who cannot afford existing Internet services.

While the service will be free, it will also be slow — about a fifth as fast as high-speed connections via cable or telephone line.

MetroFi will pay for construction and administration of the project. The service will be maintained through advertising revenue, though users can opt to pay $20 a month for ad-free service.

The city will not pay for the project. However, it plans to use Wi-Fi instead of cellphone networks to run Portland's automated parking networks and for some other public services.

MetroFi would put 2,000 wireless antennas around Portland to enable access in the city's hilly forested areas. The antennas are to be on existing structures, such as tops of city buildings.

Portland does have free Wi-Fi service available at a number of sites because of the Personal TelCo Project, a volunteer group in Portland, but this would be the first citywide project.