Local News

(WCCO) It's been big news in some of our biggest communities, but the fanfare has fizzled, and fans of city WiFi are fewer than expected.

"Pretty frequently it would go down.  Maybe five to ten times a day," said Chris Neville.


He was one of the first people to sign up for WiFi offered by the City of Minneapolis.


"I figured, I'm one of the first people on it.  I'm kind of willing to deal with it," he said.

But while the speed of his connection improved, the reliability of the service never did.


"We still have Comcast because we have someone that works out of the house and we need the reliability of Comcast," said Chris.


And ironically, it's Comcast who's helping Chris fix his problems with Minneapolis' service provider USI Wireless.


"I use Comcast to chat with USI Wireless online to fix my wireless," he said.


"We want to be able to service everyone and that's what we're trying to do," said Kurt Lange, Vice President of Operations for USI Wireless.


The company contracts with the city to provide residents with WiFi for as little as $17.95 a month for one-meg service, up to $29.95 a month for six-meg service.


That's cheaper than both Comcast and Qwest packages for the same speeds.


Still, it's no savings for Chris.


"I'm paying USI Wireless for Wireless and I'm paying Comcast for cable," he said.


"It is wireless, so there are some locations where it struggles to work as well," said Lange.



USI Wireless said it underestimated the interference caused by two things Minneapolis has a lot of -- trees and stucco houses.



Referring to stucco houses, Lange said, "They're almost wireless-proof. They almost block the signal."


The company said it hopes additional radio equipment and new antennas expected to arrive soon will help. 



"Some of these customers have been out there weeks, maybe even months, waiting for a solution," he said.  He hopes they can provide one.
People in St. Louis Park are waiting for a solution too. 



The city is behind schedule for getting its network up and running well.  It's also no secret many residents aren't fans of the solar panels that will power the system.  That's because they're mounted in direct view of many people's residences. 


The city's ParkWiFi network was supposed to be complete in September, but when contractor ARINC couldn't get the work done, the city set Nov. 30 as the new deadline. 


St. Louis Park wouldn't comment for this story, but made it clear in communication to residents that the city is committed to the project.


Everything subscribers in Minneapolis and St. Louis Park are finding out now is old news to the City of Chaska. 



"I think trees, topography and type of construction are more of an issue than people thought they would be when these things were rolled out," said Dave Pokorney, City Administrator.
 

Chaska was among the first cities in the country to offer WiFi service to residents back in 2005.

"The public has different expectations when it's run by the city," Pokorney said. 

He says that if you run WiFi like a utility, people expect it to be there and be reliable, like water and electricity, but WiFi is a more technical service and demands more specialized expertise than some cities can provide. 

Pokorney said, "It may be that in the long term, this is something we turn over to the private sector to run -- particularly if it becomes a more regional service."

For now, Chaska said its doing fine and a third of the city's residents are connected. 

"I'd say that 95 percent are very happy with the service," said Pokorney.

WiFi's worst-case scenario seems to have played out in Moorhead.  The city's GoMoorhead WiFi initiative began around the same time as Chaska's, but became so plagued with problems.

The city recently sued its consultants for falling through on their commitments.  Those problems proved costly, with the city exploring ways to tax all residents for the service -- even those who don't subscribe to cover its costs.

Chris Neville hopes it doesn't come to that in Minneapolis, where he believes service will improve. 

He said, "I wouldn't recommend it to my friends, but I'd say wait out a few months and ask me again."

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)