If Miami Beach wasn't considered a hot spot before, it is now -- officially.

Nearly four years after entering into a $5 million contract with IBM for citywide, wireless Internet, the system is up and running. On Wednesday, North Beach residents were able to create personal log-ins for the free service. The city is asking people in other neighborhoods to try out the service this week, depending on where they live.

``We're told we are the first in the country to have a free, citywide hotspot,'' City Manager Jorge Gonzalez said.

With the launch of citywide wireless fidelity, also known as Wi-Fi, Miami Beach will have 95 percent coverage outdoors and at least 70 percent coverage indoors up through the second floor of a building, according to the city.

Gonzalez said the system will increase communication and public safety by allowing immediate access to government employees with laptops, such as police. It should also save the city on the numerous air cards currently paid for by the month, he said.

Gonzalez said the new service should also help the city market itself to tourists.

``Wi-Fi is that much more predominant now than when we began and travelers today kind of expect that there is a Wi-Fi availability,'' he said. ``We can now advertise: Come to Miami Beach. There is free Wi-Fi anywhere you want. You can go to the beach and open your laptop.''

Users will have two networks to choose from, including a content-filtered network for children. A third network is for government use.

The Wi-Fi launch was supposed to happen around 2007, but the project was delayed as IBM struggled to provide the coverage it agreed to in its contract.

For example, Miami Beach had to get permission to mount transmitters on utility poles owned by Florida Power & Light and the Florida Department of Transportation. The city also bought more light poles so they could mount radios to transmit signals for the Wi-Fi network, and had to retrofit streetlights with photo cells so the network could operate all day long.

The nearly four-year delay is fairly common, as wireless technology wasn't advanced enough to facilitate many hotspot initiatives, said Glenn Fleischman, a freelance technology reporter and editor of Wi-Fi Networking News.

But Fleischman also said that with the long delay, Miami Beach is touting its citywide hotspot at a time when Internet access is increasingly available.

Many already have access to the Internet on their cellphones, and places like Starbucks and Panera offer Wi-Fi to patrons.

``It's just not as much of a big deal anymore,'' he said.

Fleischman also said that the city may experience problems finding a strong signal indoors, a reason he said most municipalities have stayed away from city-wide Wi-Fi programs.

The city's contract with IBM runs for six years from the program's kickoff date, with the option to renew for six additional years.

The city negotiated a 25 percent discount on labor and materials for those high-rise buildings that wish to use IBM to bring the Wi-Fi signal to the units above the second floor.

Gonzalez said the city now has 90 days to observe how its Wi-Fi system handles traffic and has the option to ask for tweaks or, at worst, to scrap the whole system and be reimbursed for its hardware costs.

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