Minneapolis wireless internet network
This plan met opposition from the Institute for Local Self Reliance, an organization that stated that it believed that the city should build the network itself, and then contract a private company to maintain it.
Of these eight, Atlanta-based EarthLink and Minnetonka-based US Internet were selected as semifinalists, and each company set up a trial program in Minneapolis before the final decision was made.
[4] During this process, outcry arose from both members of the Institute for Local Self Reliance about the lack of public hearings on the subject of the network, and from Qwest, another internet service provider who had placed a bid to build and run the network, about the city's plan to be involved in the wireless internet business at all.
[4] The deputy chief information officer of Minneapolis, Bill Beck, stated that the city was worried about legal restrictions and lawsuits, which were key reasons for the lack of transparency in the process.
[8] Later that year, the company announced plans to bring its internet services farther afield to the broader Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area and nationally.
[9] US Internet announced in December of the same year that it would bring 10 Gbit/s service to Minneapolis making it the first municipality in the world to have access at that speed.
[10] Minneapolis was intended to be covered in its entirety by the wireless network, with certain exceptions (such as the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden, which lacked the infrastructure to support such a system).
[5] The city's numerous lakes were also ruled out for network coverage, since sending and receiving signals on them would require transmission poles in the water.
[12] The goal was to blanket the entire city with the network by November 2007 and in spite of delays, USI Wireless expected that the next area for installation, a residential neighborhood, would be easier thanks to its flat terrain.
[13] A further delay in 2008 came in the form of light poles that were breaking under the stress of the wireless transmitters being placed upon them in neighborhoods in the Calhoun-Isles area of the city.
[5] USI Wireless has been marketing the service since then, including with billboards featuring local personality Fancy Ray McCloney.
[17] Per the request of law enforcement officials who were concerned about the potential ability to surf the internet anonymously, the free login points require the user to enter a username, password, and credit card number.
[18] The wireless service was integral in sending large GIS files to the scene for rescuers to use in locating survivors.
[19] In a report on municipal wireless networks by The Wall Street Journal, Minneapolis's was singled out as being "a success story", with the publication explaining that the concept of having the city as the anchor tenant was a good one.
[11] EarthLink had relinquished control of its partially complete network in 2008, in part due to a low subscription rate of only 5,000 customers in May of that year.
