SACRAMENTO – Sacramento's city council has voted to end a contract with a technology company that was to have provided the city with free Internet access.

It was the capital's second failed attempt at blanketing the city with Wi-Fi.

Sacramento Metro Connect never secured the funding for the proposed advertiser-backed network. Costs ballooned from initial estimates of $7 million to $9 million to as much as $15 million by Tuesday's vote.

The city approved the deal in June 2007 after its contract with Internet provider MobilePro Inc. fell apart when the city refused to become a so-called anchor tenant, or financial backer.

Other high-profile projects in places such as San Francisco and Chicago also have been scrapped.