EarthLink Terminates Philly Wi-Fi

EarthLink notified its Wi-Fi customers in Philadelphia that EarthLink is terminating its Philadelphia Wi-Fi service and that EarthLink is providing its customers a thirty-day transition period through June 12, 2008.

After months of negotiations with the City of Philadelphia and a non-profit organization in which EarthLink offered to transfer to either the City or to the non-profit — for free — the entire $17 million Wi-Fi network, as well as pay cash and donate new Wi-Fi equipment, the transfer unraveled due to unresolved issues among the City, Wireless Philadelphia and the non-profit, notes the Earthlink news release.

“EarthLink has worked diligently for many months to transfer our Wi-Fi network to a new owner — at no cost,” said Rolla Huff, EarthLink’s chairman and chief executive officer. “Unfortunately, our hope that we could transfer our network to a non-profit organization that had planned to offer free Wi-Fi throughout Philadelphia will not be realized. Since we have exhausted our efforts to find a new owner of the network, our only responsible alternative now is to remove our network at our cost and assist our Wi-Fi customers with alternative ways to access the Internet.”