Wi-Fi access for downtown Nashua seen in May.

After a year's delay, the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce is hoping that its plan to offer a free Wi-Fi Internet signal throughout downtown will be available as early as May.

Chamber President Chris Williams told the Nashua Telegraph that the signal will carry down Main Street--from Library Hill to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center--and run east to west from the street for about two or three blocks.

Slow fund-raising and other problems have delayed the goal of citywide wireless access in Boston and other municipalities across the country, but that's apparently not the case in Nashua.

Last spring, the chamber sought bids from Internet providers. The goal was to offer free Wi-Fi by summer. But by fall, the chamber still hadn't connected the system.

John Barker, information technology director for the city, cited cost and practicality as reasons the project fell through, but Williams and Barker now have their eyes on technology that is considerably less expensive and is much easier to install and maintain.

Funding will come from a state grant and Hampshire First Bank. The chamber hasn't bought the equipment yet, but what it has in mind will cost about one-fifth of what would have been purchased last year, Williams said.

Estimated start-up costs were initially in the ballpark of $15,000 to $20,000, with additional annual operating expenses, according to the chamber. The new transmitter units will cost just hundreds, while the other more expensive units would have thousands, according to Barker.