Gladstone to discontinue wireless Internet service

GLADSTONE - The city of Gladstone recently decided to discontinue offering wireless broadband Internet service to residents due to high costs and low revenues.

City Manager Brant Kucera said the former administration (former city manager) promoted the service in hopes it would boost the economy.

"The city really took a progressive stance on technology and was hoping that wireless broadband would bring economic development and those resources would bring in higher paying jobs," said Kucera. "What happened was we already had DSL at the time and honestly a company like AT&T can sell Internet connectivity much more cheaply than the city of Gladstone."

The "wireless" Internet Gladstone currently provides is not the kind that immediately comes to mind for most people. Wireless for many means their house is wired for Internet service and they can plug a wireless card into a laptop and access the Internet without physically plugging the computer into the wall. Gladstone actually offers wireless Internet by which the house is wirelessly connected to the antennae on the bluff and from there, fiber-optics make a connection to the Internet. Computers in a wirelessly-connected house using the city of Gladstone service still have to be physically plugged into the wall.

Kucera said city commissioners discussed what to do about the wireless Internet essentially losing money around budget time.

"We talked about whether we wanted to keep maintaining that system and decided that we weren't going to and would either look for a buyer or shut it down," he said. "We did not find anyone to take over the system and we're now looking to shut it down in the next six months."

Kucera said the city wanted to give subscribers adequate time to find a new provider.

"Based on the amount of time we were dedicating to it, it just wasn't paying off the investment," said Kucera. "(We) just can't recommend keeping this around."

Mayor Tom Sinnaeve said the program was instituted almost five years ago under a program instituted by former Gov. John Engler attempting to get more broadband service to rural areas. Gladstone received a grant of approximately $25,000 at the start of the wireless Internet program.

"We directed Brant at budget time to look into the process of either selling it or (ending service)," said Sinnaeve, adding a final determination may have to be voted on by the city commission.

According to Electrical Superintendent Tom White, approximately 80 to 85 customers currently rely on the city system.

"I think we were around 125, when one of our customers was Big Bay Broadband," said White. "We sold them bandwidth and they would redistribute it to their 42 customers." Recently, Big Bay Broadband switched to a different source.

White said most customers are paying $39.95 per month for the service, with some paying more depending on the package.

Gladstone will still offer high-speed broadband by both DSL and cable. Kucera said eliminating wireless was essential to keep prices low.

"The majority of our customers are actually outside the city limits and to take what's essentially a utility and for the fees not to cover the cost of doing business what would have happened was the citizens within the city would have to be subsidized....or we would have to raise the rates of the service," said Kucera.

When Gladstone eliminates wireless broadband, there will be no wireless provider in the area.