MuniWireless

Pleasant Hill’s muni Wi-Fi network has been up and running for three months now, offering free (with banner ads)  Wi-Fi service to almost 70 percent of the city. There will be a paid option (no ads) very soon.

The city set up a muni Wi-Fi network in 2005 for the police department at a cost of $200,000 and had initially planned to spend close to $400,000 to expand the network to offer Internet access to the public. But it decided in the end to hire an ISP to own and run the network. Pleasant Hill signed a 15-year contract with airCloud Communications, which already offers DSL and wireless broadband in Pleasant Hill and neighboring communities. It’s interesting to see a different model emerging in muni Wi-Fi: ISPs like Cablevision and airCloud that already offer fixed broadband service are rolling out Wi-Fi service to serve their customers.