A project to bring free wireless Internet to poor people in California is only providing a fraction of the promised Wi-Fi hotspots, according to multiple reports.

With a state grant issued in 2012, a nonprofit called Manchester Community Technologies was supposed to "install free wireless Internet along busy boulevards in low-income neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles County," said a report last week by the Los Angeles Daily News. The organization reported success to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in March 2015, saying it had connected more than 100,000 people to the Internet.

But today, few of the sites actually have Internet access. The Los Angeles Times visited the hotspot locations and reported that hardly any had Wi-Fi signals. CPUC staff visited the Wi-Fi hotspot sites in January in response to the Times' investigation, finding Internet connectivity at just two of 25 locations. CPUC says it is now planning an audit.

Manchester Community Technologies is part of a consortium of nonprofits that received $2.3 million over three years in a grant funded by phone bill surcharges, the Daily News report said. The grant supported various programs for promoting high-speed Internet usage. Of that, Manchester Community Technologies managed $453,000, overseeing the Wi-Fi project and other tasks.

Manchester Community Technologies has just one full-time employee—its executive director, Revlyn Williams—relying on interns, a subcontractor, and workers "subsidized by a county welfare-to-work program," the Daily News article said.

Williams "said the networks had all functioned at one time," according to the Times report. "Maintaining them has proved difficult, she said, because businesses that form the backbone of the networks sometimes shut down their routers at night, lose equipment to theft, or don't rely on the Internet enough to keep it running. With the three-year grant now expired, her company will persist in its efforts with 'God's help.'"

The strategies used to set up hotspots was flawed. Small business owners were asked to connect access points to their existing Internet connections, but many were not interested in doing so or didn't have Internet service to begin with. "The consortium also targeted public buildings, but LA city officials wouldn’t approve public Wi-Fi on city property because of security concerns, a spokesman for the mayor said," according to the Daily News.

The Los Angeles Times said it first learned of the Wi-Fi problems from Cal State Long Beach journalism professor Gwen Shaffer, who was conducting research on community broadband access. Shaffer criticized state utility regulators, saying they failed to thoroughly investigate whether the Wi-Fi program was working as intended.