The Philadelphia Experiment

Earlier this week, my boss sent me the story of the failure of the Philadelphia Experiment. No, not the one that rendered a Naval warship invisible and teleported it to another dimension during World War II; although, come to think of it, the result was about the same.

Disastrous. Catastrophic. Thud. People fused within bulkheads. Ugly.

Let me state right here that I have a soft spot in my heart and a huge hole in my wife's wallet, courtesy of Philadelphia. As a tourist, who knew that certain restaurants that are replicas of old Early American taverns and serve their sodas in pewter mugs did not give free soda refills, for cripes' sake? The wife had already agreed to pick up the lunch tab, thank Gawd, so I did not get stiffed for $37 in diet Cokes. However, I love the city and its historical significance. It is hallowed ground. Except for the adult book stores.

But I digress. The idea was this: Earthlink would hang wireless access points all over the city, usually on light poles. Wireless users would sign up with Earthlink as their ISP and be provided high-speed wireless Internet coverage.

Sounds good, except for one thing: People forgot to ask the people of Philadelphia how they felt about that. You see, free wireless abounds in the city courtesy of all sorts of merchants -- everyone from Starbucks to McDonald's fast food joints, Subways, and on and on.

So why should anyone bother to pay for service they are getting almost everywhere in the city for free?

Exactly. So after trying to find a buyer for the wireless canopy, Earthlink is shutting the service down June 12th.

You know, sometimes, conferences can be SO ill-timed. Note the MuniWireless' Philadelphia conference, to be held June 10th and 11th in the City of Brotherly Love, was set as a sort of celebration of the Philadelphia wireless project's success.

Instead, the conference will serve as an embarrassing wake for the death of Muni Wi-Fi in Philly.

According to the AP story my boss emailed me, Earthlink is also in the process of shutting down its muni WiFi service in New Orleans, and has convinced the cities of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Milpitas, Calif., to take over the operation of their networks. EarthLink also runs a muni wireless network in Anaheim. We'll see how long the taxpayers stand for that tomfoolery.

Why is such activity tomfoolery? Because it pits the city against the private sector. There is zero tangible government business case for WiMAX, muni Wi-Fi, what ever you want to call it. It is spawned from the same mindset that says the Internet should be free. Why should the Internet be free? Why should people not have to pay to surf? People pay to talk on cellphones. They pay for satellite TV. They pay for music (hopefully). So what kind of Utopian claptrap says the Internet should be free for the asking?

Businesses provide wireless to attract customers. They do it because they want you lining up in their shops for that eight dollar mocha latte or that Combo Number One (supersized, please!). And the customers of Starbucks, McDonald's, Burger King, et. al. are gladly paying for Wi-Fi via their purchases. I completely understand why Starbucks offers Wi-Fi (a fact that played out brilliantly in a recent episode of South Park). In fact, Starbucks already has much of downtown Philadelphia in its own wireless canopy. Check out this map.

The business model works extremely well -- well enough that here in sunny Tallahassee, even the Burger Kings have Wi-Fi! Not to mention the Panera Bread stores. I have never been inside a Panera that had fewer than a half-dozen cyberloiterers in it. And half of those people had Mac laptops, which makes Panera sort of elitist, but dang they have good sandwiches and sweets.

Maybe deploying wireless in a restaurant is a sort of defensive action, as merchants are growing concerned that laptop users will take their business elsewhere. So instead of cyberloitering in someone else's restaurant, they will encourage cyberloitering at their restaurant. I dunno. Personally, I am afraid that if I brought my laptop into one of those places, I would spill my Diet Coke all over it. But I am sloppy.

Philadelphia's experiment failed because there was no sustainable business model. Philadelphia and Earthlink were competing against merchants' ability to use wireless as an inducement to get you to come dine or shop with them. And I am glad the business owners prevailed.

This whole thing should (but probably won't) serve as a cautionary tale for all those other municipalities who would try similar joint ventures -- or, heaven help us, try to offer free muni Wi-Fi on their own. The costs are astronomical and indefensible in today's economic climate. Earthlink admitted as much in its press release. Heck, they offered to donate all their equipment and then offered to pay $1 million annually to whoever would pick up the slack.

No one answered the call, so Earthlink is pulling the plug. Supply and demand triumphs again; vive la revolution and make that two cinnamon dolce frappuccinos, please. And keep the change from the twenty.