Rio Rancho, N.M., widely cited for its early embrace of Wi-Fi, cuts off its provider: Azulstar, part of the two consortium that are unwiring Sacramento and Silicon Valley, has had its contract with the town canceled due to $33,000 that the city claims it is owed for electrical use. Azulstar and the city have been engaged in lively discussion over the network's quality and other issues, with Azulstar submitting a plan recently to swap essentially all their network gear out. The Wireless Silicon Valley project is also on the rocks, and may be abandoned, depending on which publicly quoted source close to the project you read--and in which publication. [link via MuniWireless]
Rio Rancho's county, Sandoval, has also had troubles with its much-discussed network, too, for which $1.2m was spent with few results, according to a July store in the Rio Rancho Observer. The county plans to sue its provider, the newspaper reported in July, but no further news on that front has appeared. Dewayne Hendricks, a long-time wireless advocate and consultant, was a consultant and then head of the provider for a time. When contacted, Hendricks had no comment on the advice of his lawyer. (Disclosure: Hendricks and I correspond regularly, and I'm an avid reader of his Dewayne-Net list.)