Free Community Wi-Fi Coming to an End in Seattle

Seattle is pulling the plug on its free community Wi-Fi program.

The wireless connectivity service has served the city’s University District and Columbia City neighborhoods and four downtown parks since 2005. The system will be shut down on Sunday, April 29. A public statement on Seattle’s website said the decision to end the free Wi-Fi — which was still classified as a pilot project by the city — was primarily due to the prohibitive costs of replacing outdated equipment and the increased widespread availability of Internet access through smartphones and businesses. David Keyes, community technology program manager with Seattle’s Department of Information Technology, said use of the free Wi-Fi program stayed fairly consistent over the last few years. He added that the connectivity helped increase the number of customers in the business districts. Despite the usefulness of free Wi-Fi, Keyes said that feedback received from businesses and residents indicated an understanding on why the city had to shutter the program. “People have certainly enjoyed having the convenience of the service, but I think most people are pretty realistic about recognizing the challenge the city had had [to maintain it],” Keyes said. “We have had some outages as a result of the equipment getting old.”