MIAMI, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez has given up on his dream of wireless Internet throughout the county, The Miami Herald reported Saturday.
A pilot project to use donated equipment to set up networks in four public parts is to be launched next month instead.
''What we did not want to do when rolling out the Wireless Miami-Dade initiative is launch a service that was economically and technically unfeasible,'' Alvarez said Friday in a memo to an advisory committee. ``Several communities before us attempted to do too much too soon, only to learn that their models were impractical, and more importantly, costly to taxpayers.''
Alvarez announced the plan in 2006 and emphasized it in his State-of-the-County speech last year. But the project immediately ran into the same problems other cities have encountered, especially the cost of installing the transmitters.
Glenn Fleishman, editor of the Wireless Net News, estimated that would run to $50 million for Miami-Dade.
Alvarez plans to test wireless in the park for six months. If the system runs well, it will be extended to other parks, county buildings and mass transit stations.
