Almost three years after the Minneapolis Wi-Fi network was given the go-ahead by the City Council, the public half of its promise is still under construction.

http://www.startribune.com/business/46114037.html

Steve Alexander took a laptop out for a test drive of Minneapolis’ new wireless Internet service and found that it can be pretty uneven — unless you have a special booster modem.

http://www.startribune.com/business/18184384.html

It’s been big news in some of our biggest communities, but the fanfare has fizzled, and fans of city WiFi are fewer than expected.

“Pretty frequently it would go down.  Maybe five to ten times a day,” said Chris Neville.

Read full story: http://wcco.com/techcenter/wifi.computer.internet.2.599961.html

WCCO Video (http://www.wcco.com/video/?id=34058@wcco.dayport.com)

The Minneapolis wireless Internet access project is getting an increasingly positive reception as early service problems recede and the pace of installation picks up.

http://www.startribune.com/154/story/1540333.html

Moderated by James Farstad, President of rClient, a trusted advisor to the city, a team of Minneapolis officials as well as representatives of USI Wireless (the network service provider) and BelAir Networks (the network equipment vendor) shared experiences and observations about the emergency response and the technology. The following article provides a summary of comments from the Webinar (although not comprehensive).

http://w2i.com/resource_center/the_w2i_report__weekly_newsletter/news/p/newsletterId_142/id_173

Minneapolis can keep its Wi-Fi network. St. Paul says Wi-Fi is too slow, and it wants something faster. Much, much, much faster. On Wednesday, the City Council unanimously approved an advisory committee’s proposal to seek partners for a publicly owned fiber-optic cable network for high-speed Internet access that could carry everything from e-mail to video to phone calls.

http://www.twincities.com/ci_7010050?source=email&nclick_check=1

On Wednesday evening, August 1, 2007, during rush hour, the sudden collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge dropped scores of occupied vehicles into the river gorge below.  When Joe at USI Wireless realized the cellular networks were flooded, he immediately opened the wireless network to everyone.  USI Wireless had attracted almost 1,000 customers to date in the relatively small area where it is now available. Wednesday evening more than 6,000 users took advantage of the open access. The network served an important public service that night.
Read full article:

http://w2i.com/resource_center/the_w2i_report__weekly_newsletter/news/p/newsletterId_/id_122

One of Minneapolis’ newest public safety tools, the Wireless Minneapolis network, was an invaluable resource for emergency responders at the scene of the Interstate 35W Bridge collapse, and continues to provide critical real-time information during the recovery efforts. Live video from the collapse site is now being transmitted wirelessly into Minneapolis’ Emergency Operations Center inside City Hall.

http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/mayor/news/20070808newsmayor_wifi_emerg.asp

Downtown is next, about two weeks later, as the city gets closer to its goal of a network for wireless Internet access.

http://www.startribune.com/154/story/1164471.html

St. Louis Park residents don’t like the looks of the city’s solar-powered wireless plan.

 http://www.startribune.com/106/story/1151839.html