Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, zack schnepf

Wireless ISP Stephouse Networks today announced that it had blanketed seven squares miles of Portland, Oregon with wireless broadband coverage using Proxim Wireless equipment.

The announcement follows the recent closure of MetroFi's free Wi-Fi network in the city. "As we've seen, the free municipal Wi-Fi business model just doesn't work," contends Stephouse president Tyler Booth. "But as a local company, we love to give back to our community. Oftentimes, users just need to connect for a few minutes per day - to find a map on their iPhone, to locate a local business, read the news on their lunch break, etc. - so we give everyone one free hour per day, up to 10 hours per month, to do whatever they need to do. And for users who need more than that, we offer a very reasonable [$20] monthly rate."

"Stephouse was founded in 2002, initially focused on Web hosting, but quickly shifting to DSL services and dialup," writes Network World's John Cox. "Today, the company offers a range of residential and business access services, mainly over copper and fiber. It first started offering wireless service to Portland two and a half years ago."

"What Stephouse is doing in Portland demonstrates how complex and political the provisioning of free or nearly free municipal Wi-Fi services has become, thanks to the collapse of the advertising-supported business model envisioned by vendors such as MetroFi and EarthLink Inc.," writes Computerworld's Matt Hamblen.

More here from WirelessWeek ... and the press release is here.