Via Houstonist, I see that City Council has officially approved the contract with Earthlink to build the citywide WiFi network. The measure passed almost, but not quite, unanimously.

The one holdout was Councilmember Addie Wiseman, who told the mayor she's received no answers to her questions about how much money the city may be expected to pay out for the network in the future.

"In the term sheet it was very clearly stated that the city would invest a minimum of $500,000 annually on this. Now this is a minimum that the term sheet identifies. The term sheet does not identify a maximum and that is a concern that I have."

The mayor responded with an explanation that no maximum was set because council will have to approve those expenditures every year when the budget is up for vote. Now that the terms have been approved, council will still have to vote on an ordinance to actually implement the contract.

Meanwhile, Dwight explains why cellular companies hate municipal WiFi efforts. I do in fact know that my cellphone can connect to the Internet. I also know that it ain't necessarily cheap for me to do so, and given a choice I'd rather pay for my laptop to have the experience. Which is hopefully what I'll get to do by early 2009.