PORTLAND – The dream was big. City technology planners reached for the sky hoping to bring free wireless Internet access to virtually every neighborhood.

With its partner MetroFi, the city of Portland’s goal was to have 95 percent of the city blanketed with a wireless Internet signal, or Wi-Fi, by summer 2008.

“They’ve completed 15 to 20 percent, but there doesn’t appear to be any further growth in the network,” said Logan Kleier with the city’s Bureau of Technology. He admits it is likely the city’s Wi-Fi goal will not be met.

Kleier said MetroFi indicated it will not put up any more wireless transmitters unless it receives additional funding, either from the city or from investors.

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“The business climate changed, the investing climate changed for MetroFi,” said Kleier. “What they were initially counting on were additional funds from the private venture capitalist to build out the market and those really didn’t materialize.”

Kleier said MetroFi also thought banner advertisements would help pay for the free Internet service, but the revenues did not materialize.

MetroFi did not respond to a request for information.

Testing the network

The Wi-Fi network is currently available in downtown, the Pearl District, inner eastside, north and northeast neighborhoods.

NorthWest Cable News put the MetroFi network to the test to see how well it was performing. Three random spots were chosen.

At the first location in downtown, it took several attempts to connect to the MetroFi network. Two wireless transmitter, which are white and mounted in light poles, were nearby.

The second location was at the corner of Southeast Hawthorne Street and Southeast 13th Avenue. Using the same laptop computer, a connection to the Wi-Fi network was achieved on the first try.

The result was not as good at the third location in a southeast residential neighborhood. There was no wireless signal, even though a few hundred feet away there was a wireless transmitter.

Kleier said there a number of factors may affect signal strength and quality. “The coverage variability has to do sometimes with where buildings are and how the signal bounces off buildings.”

Possible solutions

While the attempt to bring free wireless Internet to virtually all corners of the city can not be labeled a success, Kleier still gave the project high marks. “I think it’s a six or a seven (out of a scale of 10) because the city did take a risk, but did it with very little financial exposure.”

The city of Portland did not spend any money, except a small sum for initial testing of the network and Kleier’s salary.

According to Kleier, the city is exploring ways to either change the terms of the agreement or abandon the contract with MetroFi all together.