Philadelphia is probably making a good investment, according to Craig Settles, an independent municipal networking analyst who has written a book about the city's Wi-Fi odyssey. Cities can save a lot of money by equipping field employees with Wi-Fi, as well as applying the network to new technologies, such as electronic parking meters. Those meters cost less to operate because there is no cash to handle, and they can increase revenue by detecting meter violations as soon as they occur, he said.

Municipal Wi-Fi plans for places such as San Francisco, Chicago and Silicon Valley generated excitement partly because of the promise of access to Wi-Fi anywhere, in some cases for free. At companies such as EarthLink, the idea of paid or ad-supported Wi-Fi for consumers became a distraction from the viable business model of city services, Settles said.

"It was the reason that those networks failed, because it became the tail that wagged the dog," Settles said. The cost was high for cities that bought into that dream. "Most cities had no financial investment, but they lost time and they lost political equity," he said.

Settles pointed to Houston, Oklahoma City, Minneapolis, and Providence, Rhode Island, as cities that have had success with municipal Wi-Fi. Only one of those networks, in Minneapolis, is used for paid consumer Internet access, he said.