Oregon Public Broadcasting

Portland’s experiment with free wireless internet service is apparently over.  City officials announced Friday the municipal wi-fi network will either be sold or shut down.  Pete Springer has more.

Portland’s free municipal wi-fi network was  launched less than two years ago.

It was built by MetroFi. The California company promised to create a wi-fi cloud covering  95-percent of the city.

So far, less-than 30-percent of the city is covered.

And now MetroFi says it's not making money off the project.

Brendan Finn is a spokesman for Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman.

Brendan Finn: “We’re disappointed, uh, that it didn’t meet the expectations that, that we had as a city government and that our citizens had.  But at the same time, we’ve noticed that at the very least we can take solace  in that this is, you know, been the most expansive project in the United States of free wireless internet access.”

Finn says the city is looking at what recourse it might have against MetroFi.

Earthlink, which had a similar wi-fi project in Philadephia, also announced this week it's shutting  down the free network in that city.