AccessNets’08 Paper Final
Posted by Caleb Phillips on 22 August 2008This is a follow up on an earlier post where I announced that an academic paper based on our coverage testing methodology had been accepted to appear at the Third International Conference on Access Networks in Las Vegas, Nevada (October 15-17, 2008). The final camera-ready version is complete and can be downloaded here. Our hope is that this venue will give further exposure to the methodology, both in academic and industry circles, and thereby instigate some thought on the nature of coverage testing and communicating performance expectations.
Our Methods to Appear at AccessNets
Posted by Caleb Phillips on 21 June 2008Research based on the performance and coverage testing methods developed for our testing of the MetroFi Proof-of-Concept network in Portland has been accepted for publication at AccessNets 2008 which will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada in October. The paper is titled “Robust Coverage and Performance Testing for Large-Area Wireless Networks” and is co-authored with professors Dirk Grunwald and Douglas Sicker at the University of Colorado at Boulder. We’ll post a copy of the final camera-ready manuscript here, as soon as it is ready (presumably sometime in July).
MetroFi schedules Portland shutoff for June 30
Posted by Russell Senior on 20 June 2008The Portland Business Journal, Associated Press and the Oregonian are reporting that, according to officials at the City of Portland, MetroFi plans to turn off their Portland network on June 30th. The equipment is to be removed during the month of July.
Meanwhile, the Personal Telco Project is reminding people that there are still an amazing number of wifi networks in Portland (about 100 times what MetroFi was ever going to deploy), and that ordinary citizens and businesses can help make ubiquitous free wifi a reality by participating in its provision.
MetroFi Network is for Sale
Posted by Caleb Phillips on 16 May 2008As reported on wifinetnews.com, muniwireless.com, and the oregonian blog, MetroFi is throwing in the towel and has suggested that the city of Portland purchase the network as is. There is an interesting discussion about this on the Personal Telco mailing list. Here is the letter sent to Logan Kleier from MetroFi president Chuck Haas:
May 13, 2008
Mr. Logan Kleier
City of Portland
1120 SW Fifth Ave, Suite 450
Portland, Oregon 97204
Logan,
I am writing today to request a call or meeting with you to discuss the City of Portland network. MetroFi's goal was to have the City of Portland network producing enough revenue to cover expenses and even with the roll out of Microsoft SideGuide, the best advertising platform we have for Wi-Fi revenue generation, we are still not covering our costs for network operation and maintenance. As I discussed on the phone, MetroFi has three options to consider. The first is for the City to purchase the network from MetroFi; the second is to sell the network to a 3rd party; the third is to shut the network down.
The City of Portland network is comprised of 598 access points and is used by approximately 16,000 residents and visitors per month. April had 306,000 hours of use. Our operating expenses include pole attachment fees and power, the BAP locations, backhaul transport via microwave the Pittock Building and Internet transit. These expenses are approximately $15,000 per month. To purchase the network, we would propose a price of $1,500 per AP or $894,000. MetroFi would train the City on the network operation and transfer assets, spare equipment and knowledge to the City. MetroFi is also discussing network purchase with other prospective buyers, but there is no assurance that we can complete a sale.
The third option is to remove the equipment, beginning in June 2008. I understand this is a lot to digest, which is why I have requested a meeting or call to allow us to discuss these options in more detail. We are looking to understand the city's position as soon as possible as our intent is to begin network shut-down and equipment removal the by the end of June if we do not have a buyer.
Please let me know a convenient time to meet and discuss these options with you at your first opportunity.
Sincerely,
Chuck Haas
President & CEO
A quiet path to termination?
Posted by Russell Senior on 6 March 2008The Portland Mercury published a story recently that casts doubt on the longterm viability of the MetroFi network in Portland. The two notable quotes are:
“We’ve been trying to contact Haas, in order to redefine the relationship, but he’s been difficult to get a hold of.” — Logan Kleier
and
City Commissioner Dan Saltzman [...] has said that MetroFi’s conduct has been “regrettable,” though he will allow the project “a quiet path to termination”
Interview of Chuck Haas on OPB this morning
Posted by Russell Senior on 21 February 2008We were alerted to an interview (unclipped version) with Chuck Haas (MetroFi CEO) that OPB ran this morning on its radio service. It was interesting to us in that we finally heard a (still incomplete) justification that indicates the basis of their ~30% coverage claim. He said it was based on a population weighting, claiming that 150,000 out of 540,000 people had access to the service. He didn’t get into any details of the assumptions that go into the 150,000 people number. We have previously estimated that on a spatial basis their existing network covers only about 4.2% of the 134 square-mile city’s outdoor areas to the “90% probability of a connection to a 30 mW client device” standard. Our estimate is based on our recent survey of the SkyPilots we did in December, and a 300-foot coverage radius that we found during our testing of the Proof-of-Concept network last spring. Logan Kleier has said that the City and MetroFi are using a 500-foot radius, but even assuming that, you only get about 11-15% of the area covered (depending on how many of the SkyPilots are actually functional). To get to 30% on a population basis, roughly speaking, you’d have to assume that the population density of the covered areas is twice as high as the city as a whole. We wonder if that’s true.
Also, as part of the interview Chuck was asked about SideGuide. He described it as “much less obtrusive”, while the interviewer expressed skepticism of that claim, comparing it to pop-ups. In response to a question about the privacy of surfing behavior, “data on the sites you are visiting are tracked … what is that information used for?”, Chuck ducked and pointed at Microsoft, which in turn was not specifically responsive to the question.
Portland Linux/Unix Group talk tonight
Posted by Russell Senior on 7 February 2008Russell Senior is going to give a talk to the General Monthly Meeting of the Portland Linux/Unix Group this evening about what he has learned in observing the MetroFi network in Portland over the last year, and how he learned it.
MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT
The Portland Linux/Unix Group
will meet
7 PM Thursday Feb 7, 2008
at
Portland State University
in
New Engineering Building
Room 325
The building is on SW 4th across from SW College Street.
See location H-10 on map at http://pdxLinux.org/campus_map.jpg
Here is a Google Street View shot of the building.
MetroFi Portland week-in-review
Posted by Russell Senior on 19 January 2008In the Willamette Week piece last week, Lucie Poulicakos (vice president of operations at MetroFi) said that corrections to the map could be expected in a few days. This week we drove back to the 36 locations that the MetroFi map showed were “In service” but that we had found were not. In our recheck we found that there were indeed some incremental improvements, and found evidence that at least 6 of the SkyPilots had been physically touched. Here’s what we found:
(Read on …)
Slight modifications to MetroFi’s map appear
Posted by Russell Senior on 8 January 2008Sometime on Sunday or Monday (January 6-7, 2008), a few new changes to the MetroFi map appeared:
- The SkyPilot map location at SE 9th and Division is removed and replaced with one at SE 8th and Division, however:
- They still claim it is “In service” and had it been operating during our recent survey (Dec 19-30, 2007) we surely would have noticed it had it moved a single block;
- The latitude/longitude they provide for the new location is out near Estacada, which seems rather unlikely.
- New SkyPilots appear on the map (the SkyPilots themselves were there already) at three locations we had noted in the survey summary we posted recently:
- SE Hawthorne Blvd and 92nd (they repeat a typo of “BL VD” from another entry);
- SE Stark and 76th; and
- SE Stark and 90th.
- The missing status that we had found at the SW 1st and Meade location has been fixed to read “Coming soon”.
It is important to say that Unwire PDX Watch is not out to get MetroFi. All we are out to get is The Truth. As far as we can tell, substantial errors remain uncorrected (and new ones have been introduced) on the MetroFi map.
MetroFi’s Portland network slipping into unmitigated decay?
Posted by Russell Senior on 5 January 2008A couple weeks ago we commented on how, despite earlier assurances, dozens of new access points did not appear to be going live over the last few months. We had based this observation on 
a comparison of roughly weekly snapshots of the MetroFi map. Since October 26, 2007 the map has recorded the following changes:
- between October 31 and November 2, a “Coming soon” access point appeared on the map at 4400 NE Broadway
- between November 9 and 18, that “Coming soon” access point disappeared from 4400 NE Broadway and reappeared at 416 NE Brazee
- between December 1 and December 14, the “Coming soon” access point at 416 NE Brazee was replaced with an “In service” access point at 2432 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. In the same period, a latitude/longitude correction was made, moving the spot on the map intended for SE Division Street and 57th Avenue about 1000 feet from SE Lincoln to SE Division.
When Chuck Haas said that the service area had expanded substantially since October, we were perplexed by the disparity and inquired to MetroFi about just which new access points had gone live since October. We are still waiting for an answer. Their map indicates anemic growth at best. But then we began wondering, just how accurate is that map? There is only one reliable way to find out. Go check. So, between December 19th and Decemeber 30th we spent about 35 hours doing just that. From the locations provided on their map, we endeavored to drive underneath each one of the 677 SkyPilot access points that MetroFi claims exist.
(Read on …)