Rizzo proposes cheaper plan for wireless network.

Byline: Anthony S. Twyman

Mar. 9--While the Street administration wants to build a citywide wireless Internet network at a cost of up to $10 million, Councilman Frank Rizzo says there appears to be a much less expensive alternative.

During a budget hearing in City Hall yesterday, Rizzo said the city already has a wireless network that was installed in 2000 by a company called Metricom. It consists of 4,000 radio transceivers with 950 mounted on city street lights and the rest in the suburbs, according to Joseph James, a Public Property Department deputy commissioner.

The Street administration countered that the system was already antiquated and …