The 910 square miles of Oakland County, Mich., are still unlit, but 1,300 sq. ft. are up and running: The countywide project, designed to offer basic service of 128 Kbps free across the entire area, has suffered delays. The Detroit News reports that residents are getting antsy, but they might keep their pants on--this project would be the largest of its kind, figuring in population density and even trees. A larger network exists in Eastern Oregon, which is much less densely populated and has fewer physical obstructions, though more physical difficulties. It's also partly funded by federal dollars as a piece of a toxics alert system.
The Oakland County project has MichTel Communications bearing quite a lot of risk, and the firm told the Detroit News that they've had a lot of siting problem: figuring out precisely where equipment should go. This article doesn't mention an earlier issue in April, that at least one utility was putting roadblocks in expeditious permitting to use utility poles.
MichTel is still saying that the network will be deployed by late 2007, although only a few access points are in place. Interestingly, with just a small area in one city turned on, MichTel says that 700 hours of usage were recorded over 13 days around Labor Day. The company will charge for tiered service, starting at $20 a month for 512 Kbps.