Nearly two years after a citywide wireless network was first discussed in Chicago's City Council, the city's procurement department is still six months away from choosing a service provider to construct the network.

The requests for proposal that went out one year ago resulted in three submissions, from ATT Inc., EarthLink Inc. and one smaller firm, according to Donal Quinlan, spokesperson for one of the two aldermen who initially spearheaded the idea.

"The submissions are under review by the procurement department," Quinlan said. He expects the city to choose a winner by late spring, to be followed by three to six months of contract negotiations.

"Looking at the experience of other cities, that's a typical timeframe," Quinlan said.

The requests for proposal stated that the city will evaluate the proposals on the basis of their ability to provide ubiquitous citywide coverage, community benefits such as job-creation, and "digital inclusion," the incorporation of information technology into all sectors of society, including the traditionally underserved.

Cost, too, will be an issue. Though exact pricing is undetermined, Al Ruiz, the city's chief network architect, said it "will definitely be cheaper than your current broadband bill." Other cities currently testing citywide services price it in the $20 per month range for the average consumer and closer to $10 per month for low-income qualifiers.

On a similar tack, Sprint Nextel Corp. announced last week its intention to build citywide wireless networks in Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., to be operational by the end of the year. As opposed to the city's Wi-Fi plan, Sprint Nextel will deploy a slightly different and newer technology, WiMAX.

"(Citywide wireless) is a growing market because people want to be connected," said Joe Mambretti, director of Chicago-based International Center for Advanced Internet Research. "Clearly, the future is being connected all the time -- hopefully only when people want to."

A key component of citywide service, Mambretti said, is "future-proofing."

"Wireless standards continue to evolve," he said. "At any point in time you're getting today's technology, but it'll change -- and it's changing very fast in the wireless world."

Mambretti wouldn't comment on which of Chicago's potential providers have the best record on future-proofing.

Chicago would not be the first major city to go wireless. San Francisco, which reached an agreement with Google and EarthLink in April 2006, is awaiting contract approval from the city government and hopes to provide citywide access by early 2008, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Quinlan discounts criticism on the city's slow deployment. "We wanted to make sure we had input and support from experts across the city."