In August of 2007, Earthlink, failing to make muni-fi work as an incumbent end-around, gave Houston million for missing build deadlines. Earthlink ultimately walked away from citywide Wi-Fi entirely, but Houston used their money to deploy downtown Wi-Fi themselves. That network went live one year later, providing Houston residents with free service last August. Since inception the city’s website hinted the initiative might not last, and now the Houston Chronicle reports the project has been modified to the chagrin of some locals:

With the exception of an area downtown with parking meter mounted hotspots, it looks like Houston is closing the network off to the general public. A project spokesperson says the post-Earthlink plan never involved Wi-Fi for the masses, and tells the Chronicle this effort is “about access with a purpose” and was never intended to be a Wi-Fi free for all. Glenn Fleishman of Wi-Fi Networking News seems utterly perplexed by the move:

Houston’s logic doesn’t seem all that strange, given that restricting the municipal network to schools and community centers reduces network strain and bandwidth costs, while letting somebody else worry about wireless broadband across the rest of the city (which should make ISPs happy). The network was initially deployed to network parking meters and funded by Earthlink’s screw up, so the school and community center Wi-Fi is just an added perk.
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