EarthLink scraps city-wide Wi-Fi, cuts jobs

Author: Phil Cogar
Published: 31st August 2007
Comments (3) Stumble
When I hear EarthLink, my mind instantly goes to slow dial-up, not Wi-Fi.

When I hear EarthLink, my mind instantly goes to slow dial-up, not Wi-Fi.

This is a bad week for ISP EarthLink.

On Tuesday, it announced that the company would cut 900 jobs from its workforce in order to help provide a boost in cash from its operations this year. The same day, the city of Chicago announced that it had failed to reach an agreement with the company to provide city-wide Wi-Fi internet access. Following all of that, the company announced that it was pulling out of it's deal with San Francisco to provide the same service.

EarthLink, which built its business up on dial-up users, has found itself struggling to keep its subscribers from jumping ship to more affordable broadband carriers while also attracting new customers to its service. By scaling back on its workforce, the restructuring is expect to generate £67 million to £72 million in operations this year and £99 million in 2008.

Negotiations in Chicago failed after the city declined to pay to use the network to support city services. Chicago is willing to provide the infrastructure for any city-wide Wi-Fi service but any company interested would need to front its own cash to build the required network.

In San Francisco, EarthLink had been working with the city for the past three years in order to sign a contract to provide free internet access alongside search giant Google but plans had been held up by the city's Board of Supervisors. "I'm disappointed because we had a chance to get it done, and it didn't happen," said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. "The board delayed it, and now EarthLink could not be more pleased."

EarthLink still plans to spend £19.8 million to £24.8 million to finish its existing Wi-Fi connects in Philadelphia; Corpus Christi, Texas; and Anaheim, California but don't expect to hear about the company cutting deals with any more cities.

With more and more businesses offering free Wi-Fi to entice customers into their stores, is a city-wide plan really necessary? Tell us your thoughts over in the forums or in the comment section below.
Quote Faulk_Wulf 31st August 2007, 16:22
I think city-wide wi-fi would be nice for basic things such as internet. The amount of traffic during peak hours would bog down the connection to make gaming and downloading unbearable, so private connections would still be needed and used by those who could afford the privilege to have such a thing. Ever since I got a laptop, I upgraded to wireless in my apartment. It is nice to walk where ever in the place and open up a web-page. I think city-wide wi-fi should be implemented because not everyone wants to walk down to Starbucks and buy a coffee just to use the internet. (And there has been a case of a guy in New Jersey who was arrested because he used the "free wi-fi" outside of a cafe for six months but never bought a single item from the place.) I think the convenience of having wi-fi in virtually every part of the city is something that shouldn't be just shrugged off. Right now the next closest thing are the premium Sprint and Verizion PCMCIA cards that allow you to connect to the internet for $70.00+ a month. Which I think is just ridiculous. I pay $50.00 now and that's for a basic phone line and unlimited broadband wireless. As I said, city-wide wi-fi probably won't draw in the gamers and the file sharers, but for those who never had internet, and for those who spend alot of time commuting on the subway, or for those that would just like to load a page while sitting in a park, or whatever: I think it would be a wonderful idea. ;)

(PS: First post.)
Quote completemadness 1st September 2007, 17:53
"our market is dissapearing, lets cut our workforce to combat the problem" :(
Quote DXR_13KE 1st September 2007, 19:25
Quote:
Originally Posted by completemadness
"our market is dissapearing, lets cut our workforce to combat the problem" :(

that is a common tactic these days....
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