MetroFi rollout not making visible progress
Posted by Russell Senior on 14 December 2007In early October KGW Television News reported that MetroFi was halting deployment of their network. KGW quoted a vice president at MetroFi, Lou Pelosi, saying that they would be turning on SkyPilots that had been deployed, but not deploying new ones, barring a new commitment of City funds or more private investment. This was followed by corrections and clarifications from MetroFi indicating that they intended to complete their rollout within the three years provided to them in their contract with the City of Portland. Oregonian reporter Mike Rogoway quotes MetroFi spokesperson Denise Graab:
“We never said that we weren’t going to expand this network,” she said. “There’s going to be dozens of new access points going live over the next few months.”
However, since we started monitoring the status map of the MetroFi network on October 26, only one new SkyPilot has been deployed (on the roof of the new ExpressNets store at N.E. MLK and Brazee) and (despite Mr. Pelosi’s remarks) none of the 89 out-of-service SkyPilots have been brought online. (One out-of-service SkyPilot was briefly deployed at N.E. 44th and Broadway, but it disappeared before it was turned on, possibly to be moved to ExpressNets). So, the grand total progress is one new (special case) SkyPilot in the last 7 weeks.
At this rate, under favorable assumptions MetroFi will complete its buildout in about 375 years. So, has MetroFi suspended its buildout or hasn’t it? MetroFi says one thing, but the objective evidence seems to say something altogether different.