Students looking forward wireless Internet citywide will have to wait a little longer.
A scheduling conflict with City Council has delayed construction of the wireless infrastructure to March, Philadelphia Chief Information Officer Dianah Neff said.
The city previously planned to start construction in mid-January.
The delay has occurred because the finalized contract between the Philadelphia Wireless Executive Committee and EarthLink -- the Atlanta-based Internet service provider responsible for deploying and maintaining the wireless infrastructure -- must be passed by City Council before construction can begin.
Neff said that the Wireless Executive Committee needs the city's approval for the "pole-attachment agreement" so that wireless equipment can be mounted on streetlamps in the city.
Though she expects to have finalized an agreement with EarthLink by Dec. 22, City Council is on vacation between Dec. 15 and Jan. 24.
This means that the agreement will not go before the council until Jan. 24 at the earliest.
"We unfortunately didn't look at the council calendar when we were planning," she said. "Our timing is off with the council's holiday schedule."
After the final agreement is presented to City Council, it will be reviewed and, following a public hearing, voted on by council members -- a process that will take around four council meetings, Neff said.
She is confident that City Council will approve the agreement.
"The city's goals align with what we are trying to achieve," she said. "Everyone is getting primed, and we will definitely be ready to go in March."
She added that she does not know exactly when wireless service would be available in the University City area, as she had not yet seen the final version of the design plans.
However, Neff said that despite the delay in the construction, she is confident that the entire city will be wireless by the end of 2006.
EarthLink spokesman Jerry Grasso confirmed that the agreement with the Wireless Executive Committee is being finalized but refused to give any other comment on the matter.
