Tempe’s public Wi-Fi system, inactive since the beginning of the year, could be up and running again in the next two months.

Kansas City, Mo.-based telecommunications company Computers & Tele-Comm Inc. is in the process of buying the public system of more than 900 access points covering 40 square miles of Tempe.

The company’s CEO, Graeme Gibson, met with City Council members on Aug. 14.

“They were very helpful in trying to get the system re-energized,” Gibson said.

The access points, which make up a system called the wireless access zone, are the product of a municipal project started in 2005 to make Tempe one of the first American cities with citywide Wi-Fi service.

The project never took shape as it was envisioned, however, because the companies in charge of the service could scarcely afford to operate it, let alone improve it, said Dave Heck, Tempe’s deputy information technology manager.

“The operating costs were much more than they expected,” Heck said. “They were really in the hole to begin with.”

In its short lifespan, the Wi-Fi network has suffered from low connectivity and what Heck called “poor marketing” by the companies operating it.

The system is currently owned by the city of Tempe, which took control after Richardson, Texas-based Gobility shut down wireless operations in December.

Computers & Tele-Comm is currently in the process of obtaining a license to run the idle Wi-Fi network, Gibson said.

“We have a different capability in reach,” Gibson said. “We could increase coverage and connectivity.”

Gibson said his company, which gets much of its income from providing wireless service to hotels in the Midwest, would provide residents with better service.

ASU has its own Wi-Fi system, but students who work or venture off campus say the public system usually has very low connectivity.

English junior Lauren Caple worked off campus when the network was still operational.

“I tried using it once, probably for about 15 minutes,” Caple said. “It worked, but it went pretty slow.”

Business management sophomore Cristina Gallo said she would be interested in using the public wireless network if it began working again.

“I’ll use whatever works,” Gallo said while using her laptop at Starbucks on Mill Avenue. “But I never get any bars [connectivity] on the Tempe network.”

Computers & Tele-Comm is still in the early stages of taking over Tempe’s wireless system. Gibson said the deal is in legal limbo and it will be months before the system is up and running again.

“The problem with trying to get something like this done is there are a thousand different moving parts,” Gibson said. “The prospect is about 50-50. We are far from a done deal.”

Reach the reporter at derek.quizon@asu.edu