Council OKs contract for muni Wi-Fi network

City Council members on Wednesday approved a contract with EarthLink to build Houston's wireless Internet network, putting the city a step closer to having the nation's largest municipal Wi-Fi setup — or, as KHOU has apparently taken to calling it, a "wireless Internet bubble." (Not one, we hope, like this.)

The $50 million network will cover all of the city of Houston's 600 square miles; Atlanta-based EarthLink Municipal Networks will build and run the network and will sell access to Internet service providers, who in turn may resell it to their customers. Access will likely be sold for somewhere around $20 a month, which is more than basic personal DSL packages but far less than cable Internet access. There's still the question of how well the network will actually work — for example, how strong the signal will be inside buildings — and technology talk-show host Michael Garfield told KHOU we won't really know the answer until the system's up and running. "It's exciting and it's, quote unquote, sexy for the city of Houston to be build unwired, but again, let's wait until the whole system is up. And let's see if it, indeed, really works," he told Channel 11.

KUHF reports that several councilmembers expressed their support for the network; the holdout was Addie Wiseman, who said the city's investment wasn't clear. "In the term sheet it was very clearly stated that the city would invest a minimum of $500,000 annually on this," Wiseman said. "Now this is a minimum that the term sheet identifies. The term sheet does not identify a maximum and that is a concern that I have." Mayor Bill White replied that the amount the city invests each year will have to be figured into the city budget, which is why no amount was specified.

City Council will now have to approve an ordinance to implement the contract. Assuming things go as the city has planned, the Wi-Fi network could be up and running in about two years.