Portland's municipal Wi-Fi service is a mixed offering

PORTLAND, Ore. — It rains a lot in Portland. So on days when the sun's rays make it all the way to the ground, who wouldn't want to take the city's new free Wi-Fi service for a spin?

The answer: anyone who wants an easy connection.

Portland officials announced last summer that it had reached a deal with Silicon Valley startup MetroFi Inc. to blanket the city with free, high-speed wireless Internet access. Unlike many cities that have jumped on the municipal Wi-Fi bandwagon, Portland faced little risk: MetroFi would pay to build and manage the network and make its money from online advertising.

No taxpayer dollars would be spent and the city would have another feather in its hat.

But a problem has cropped up: some users say it doesn't work.

One independent group hired by the city found the system provided more than 90 percent coverage within a certain distance to the network's access points. Two local community wireless activists did a study of their own and found just under 60 percent coverage.

I decided to check it out in a less-than-scientific study that involved getting out of the office and visiting about a half dozen places to browse the Internet or read e-mail on the go.

All the spots were outdoor because MetroFi's indoor access is limited. The company says distance, walls and interference from other devices cause problems. Inside, it recommends a Wi-Fi "booster" device. But at around $100, the extra gadget conflicts with my idea of "free."

My first attempt to connect was at Pioneer Courthouse Square, a wide-open space at the center of Portland's downtown where the service debuted in December.

Despite a strong signal, it took me several minutes to make a connection. Once it did, my Web browser — Internet Explorer 7 — loaded the MetroFi welcome page without pause. And the sign-in process was easy. It even included an understandable outline of privacy issues.

But when I tried to send my login information to begin browsing, I couldn't. After 10 minutes of fruitless attempts, I gave up and instead latched onto another free network's signal with ease.

At several stops within MetroFi's general service area, my computer regularly detected the network and showed a strong signal, but I was unable to log on.