EarthLink CEO Garry Betty told the Wall Street Journal, "We still don't believe in the free model much," due to the cost of building a network and supporting it afterward.  "We're not in business to break even. We're in the business of making money for our shareholders," Betty said.

Breaking even means earning $7 in ad revenue per customer per month in a municipal WiFi system, and Betty doesn't see search advertising generating that much money. In the past, Microsoft's chief software architect Bill Gates has said each search user is worth about $50 a year to Google.

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