The Libertarian-oriented think tank praised Corpus Christi for first building a system around the city's initial needs and then selling it off to EarthLink, one of the better-known Internet providers.

But, the Gulf Coast city hasn't washed its hands of its network. In fact, it's taking the system back.

"There are some things that government can do very well, and networking is one of them," said Michael Armstrong, Corpus Christi's chief information officer. The city will maintain some Wi-Fi hot spots, but the system will be used mainly for city services, such as meter reading and law enforcement.

Steven Titch, the author of Reason's report touting Corpus Christi, said the recent development hasn't changed his opinion of Corpus Christi's system since the city put forethought into its design, something he said was lacking in iProvo.

Corpus Christi "is a success because of the front-end planning," Titch said. "They sat down with their department heads and said, 'If we put in a wireless network, how can you use it?' " He said that approach allowed the city to calculate a reasonable rate of return and to show that taxpayers were getting value in return for the public money invested in the system.

Currently, Provo pumps $2 million a year into iProvo to help pay off its bonds because it lacks enough subscribers to make the system truly self-sustaining.

In 2003, about the same time officials began working on iProvo, Corpus Christi started assembling its wireless network. Armstrong said the original plan was to use the system for reading utility meters. The system reached its full build-out in 2005.

"At that point we realized we had a lot of capacity," Armstrong said. "EarthLink came in with an offer to buy, not lease, it."

In March 2007, the city agreed to the sale for $5.3 million, with $3.7 million paid up front and the balance to be paid off in installment payments. EarthLink upgraded the system, Armstrong said and created Wi-Fi hot spots around the city for people to connect their own computers.

But EarthLink had a management change, and the company decided to move away from wireless technology in favor of a wired system. It offered the network back to Corpus Christi.

The city could keep the $3.7 million that was already paid in return for excusing the $1.6 million that was owed.

"We got $3.7 million and another million in upgrades," Armstrong said.

The Texas city will continue to maintain the 10 hot spots for now, but Armstrong said there are no plans to follow Provo's lead.

"I don't want to sell Internet service. I don't even want to get into wholesale service," Armstrong said. He said the city especially didn't want to get into the role of having to provide customer service.

It's a sentiment echoed in a CCG Consulting report to Provo that called for the city to allow its retail providers to deal with customer service and let city employees focus on the overall network.

CCG was one of two consultants Mayor Lewis Billings hired to examine how the city could make the network profitable, mainly by charging city departments for using the system.

dmeyers@sltrib.com