**UPDATE, 4:53 p.m.:** Sonya Smith’s story, “EarthLink to abandon citywide wireless Internet in Anaheim,” is now available (Only 1,000 subscribers? No wonder). Read it HERE.

The massive Wi-Fi hotspot is getting shut off in Anaheim, where EarthLink began its citywide experiment to offer wireless Internet to residents two years ago.

EarthLink mentioned this in its conference call yesterday. Last night, Anaheim’s city council approved a motion to end the contract. Sonya ‘iGirl’ Smith is working on the city end and will post a complete update soon.

This shouldn’t be a huge surprise. EarthLink has been pulling out of cities nationwide.

The plan never even took off in San Francisco, which scrapped plans with Earthlink last fall.

In April, EarthLink said it was pulling out of New Orleans and ending service because it couldn’t find someone to take over. It had already began moving its Wi-Fi networks in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Milpitas, Calif., to those cities’ governments, according to Information Week.

In May, EarthLink pulled out of Philadelphia, leaving 5,942 customers 30 days to find new service. The Associated Press  reported that 6,000 was far less than the anticipated 100,000 customers EarthLink wanted in the city. EarthLink said the money-losing service cost the company $200,000 a month and subscriber fees covered only half the operating costs.

Anaheim appears to be the last city EarthLink is working with. I’ll link to iGirl’s update as soon as it’s available. Here it is: “EarthLink to abandon citywide wireless Internet in Anaheim.”

Related stories:

• Anaheim may become ‘hotspot’ (10/2005)
• Anaheim takes Wi-Fi citywide (1/2006)
• Anaheim striding toward Wi-Fi network (6/2006)
• Earthlink starts Wi-Fi phone test in Anaheim (3/2007)
• Troubled EarthLink keeps Anaheim service (8/2007)

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