Nonprofit Manchester Community Technologies, for example, collected 453,000 in federal funds for a community Wi-Fi project that the group claimed in March 2015 had connected more than 100,000 people to the Internet. But an investigation by The Los Angeles Times this month revealed that Wi-Fi hot spots were present at just two of the 25 locations.
The group’s executive director claimed that the hot spots had all worked at one time, but because businesses formed the network’s backbone, the hot spots have disappeared as equipment was turned off, moved or stolen.
Many businesses weren’t interested in participating in the program to begin with, Ars Technica reported, and according to the Daily News, public buildings didn’t want to participate because of security concerns.
