Today's the day that the city of Corpus Christi celebrates the end of its citywide WiFi installation.
The city's wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi, network was sold in March to EarthLink for $5.5 million and an additional $340,000 during the first year of service in franchise fees and other revenues. The sale gave the company rights to the 147 square miles of Corpus Christi the network serves."We are very excited that we can take this to the next level and make it improve the availability for commercial use," City Manager Skip Noe said. "When we first got it, the network was meant as a vehicle to help save on operating costs and now this next level will allow us to provide Internet access for the community to use."
The network had about 1,300 radios with 500-foot radii when it was bought from the city. EarthLink was charged with upgrading the network to industry standard equipment compared with other cities it serves. The company upgraded services and added more radios to poles and towers to improve coverage.
EarthLink began taking subscribers June 1 for a promotional rate of $6.95 a month for the first six months. The rate transfers to a recurring cost of $19.95 a month thereafter for download and upload speeds as fast as 1 megabyte per second. Those who want more speed can opt for service of 3 Mbps for downloads and 1 Mbps for uploads for $9.95 for the first six months, with a recurring rate of $21.95 a month thereafter.
The city began its wireless network in 2004 to automate its meter-reading system in a 20-square-mile pilot project area. The network, which allows people to access the Internet from wireless devices such as laptops, cost the city $7.1 million to install. Officials say the knowledge obtained from setting up the network compensated for the difference between the cost and sale price.