Cities Shop for Free Wi-Fi
June 30, 2006 by Mary Wynne-Wynter
Cities Shop for Free Wi-Fi: "A busted deal between Sacramento and wireless provider MobilePro shows how the rise of a new business model -- based on ads instead of subscriptions -- is shaking up the municipal Wi-Fi market."
While it costs about $200 to acquire a new subscriber, a free service attracts more subscribers more quickly. Today, there are about 10,000 consumers using MetroFi's service in Sunnyvale, and in the neighboring cities of Santa Clara and Cupertino. Nearly 80% of the users came on board after the switch to the free model supported by advertising, the company says.