The firm Philadelphia has retained to build a citywide wireless Internet network has spent millions more than its anticipated costs and cannot say when it will complete the project, City Council members were told yesterday.

In fact, EarthLink Inc. representatives didn't show up for a committee hearing on Wireless Philadelphia. The company's retreat from the municipal-wireless business prompted the hearing. But EarthLink made clear by its absence that it did not want to be peppered with questions in public as it rethinks its business strategy. All that money spent for a few thousand people. What a waste!!

EarthLink said it had spent more than $20 million to establish the broadband wireless service, "in excess of the $12 million to $15 million anticipated by the city and EarthLink at the outset of the project."

The network is substantially built, the company said, but neither EarthLink nor city officials could provide a date for when the system would be completed.

Greg Goldman, CEO of the city-created nonprofit Wireless Philadelphia, said EarthLink's network had "several thousand" subscribers so far.

said by pnh102 :

Crime is literally out of control. Murder is at record levels. The schools are a joke. The city government on the other hand seems to be more pre-occupied with routing the Boy Scouts out of town and punishing legitimate businessmen for insisting their clientele speak English.

said by pnh102 :

Crime is literally out of control. Murder is at record levels. The schools are a joke. The city government on the other hand seems to be more pre-occupied with routing the Boy Scouts out of town and punishing legitimate businessmen for insisting their clientele speak English. This is truly an insult to what is a great city.

said by Backspace :

I never understood why the city was going to implement free WiFi in neighborhoods where the people could barely afford a $10 bag of Heroin let alone a computer. It couldn't be for the payoffs, could it?

said by howrman :

This just doesn't make sense. Who are you suggesting paid off whom? If Earthlink bribed someone in the City to get the contract, it hasn't worked out as planned. Earthlink stands to lose a truckload of money and the City stands to get a Wifi network for free. If that's the way corrupt government works, I say let's have more of it.

Philadelphians are nothing if not proud of our history, so it was no surprise to me that Philadelphia Mayor John Street was recently reelected despite the discovery of a FBI bug in his city hall office shortly before the election. The news of the bug and the subsequent story that his administration was being investigated for illegally issuing city contracts to campaign contributors actually helped invigorate his campaign.

We appear to be corrupt and contented still.

The time-honored tradition of rewarding political contributors with lucrative city contracts, called "Pay-to-Play," is not unique to Philadelphia. Other cities have similar set-ups. As I understand it, giving contracts to contributors is only illegal if its done on a "quid pro quo" (something for something) basis. That is, if you give the mayor a campaign contribution and then just happen to be awarded a contract, that’s not a crime. But if there is a stated agreement of cash traded for future contracts, that’s a crime.

said by pnh102 :

The city government on the other hand seems to be more pre-occupied with routing the Boy Scouts out of town and punishing legitimate businessmen for insisting their clientele speak English.