Initial Announcement
Posted by Caleb Phillips on 27 March 2007Preliminary results of an independent evaluation will be presented at the Personal Telco Project Monthly Meeting on March 28 at 6:30pm
During the Summer of 2006, the City of Portland signed an agreement with MetroFi, Inc (Mountain View, California) to build a city-wide wireless network that promised to provide ad-supported, free-of-charge wifi Internet service to Portland. As part of the 82-page agreement, MetroFi agreed to initially deploy their network service in a Proof-of-Concept area. Expansion beyond the Proof-of-Concept network was to be contingent on an independent confirmation that the network performed up to the standards set out in the agreement. The City solicited bids to perform the independent evaluation and awarded a contract to Uptown Services (Boulder, Colorado).
The results of the official Uptown Services evaluation of the MetroFi Proof-of-Concept wireless network are expected in the next few days.
In addition to the official test, two local researchers and community wireless activists, Caleb Phillips and Russell Senior, have performed their own evaluation, and are ready to present some preliminary results Wednesday evening during the monthly General Meeting of the Personal Telco Project, a local community wireless networking educational non-profit organization.
Among the preliminary results presented will be detailed maps showing the boundaries of the Proof-of-Concept network as they compare with MetroFi coverage claims, the locations of the access points, street-level signal levels found in an extensive survey, a statistical assessment of how well the network measures up to the expectation of a connection in 90% of outdoor areas based on a random sample of locations, as well as a general discussion of what they have learned about the MetroFi network during their evaluation.
The preliminary results will be followed by a more complete report when it is finished in the coming days. The report will be available for download at www.unwirepdx-watch.org.
The monthly meeting of the Personal Telco Project will be held at Urban Grind Coffee at 2214 NE Oregon St, on Wednesday, March 28th, starting at 6:30 pm.