It's official: San Francisco to get free WiFi blanket courtesy of Google / EarthLink
By Darren Murph 
posted Jan 6th 2007 5:41PM
posted Jan 6th 2007 5:41PM
Ah Google, where would we be without you? Instead of answering that, we'll just say that the search giant (and future world dominator?) has landed yet another smile-eliciting deal, and this time it's the San Franciscans getting the spoils. While the deal between the city of San Francisco and Google / EarthLink has been brewing for quite some time, city officials have (finally) "finalized a contract that will enable EarthLink to build a citywide wireless network and allow Google to provide free internet access." With an estimated one million or so folks to benefit from the implementation, things are looking good if you've been itching for everywhere-WiFi and happen to live in SF, and while EarthLink still plans on offering a "fee-based premium service," Google is looking out for the little guy by dishing out the free stuff. Apparently, no hard pricing figures nor rollout dates have been set just yet, but things should start moving along relatively soon if Google has anything to do with it, as a statement released by the company stated its intent to "to see the service go live as soon as possible" -- now that's what we're talking about. [Warning: PDF Link][Via CNET]
Wow that's awesome! Any word on speeds?
The SF Chronicle said free internet would be (up to) 300kb/s and you could pay Earthlink 21.95 for (up to) 1mb/s speeds.
When they come to New England can I dump comcast and get 54Mbps?
why can't they blanket the UK, we're a small country, the government could at least hotspot the major cities
Because if they did, all the bandwidth would be used up by the wireless remote surveillance cameras.
Norwich already has free wifi across the city. First in the UK, and quite possibly only still, but it's a start right? (Let's not mention that's it's free for only an hour a day, shall we?)
why can't they blanket the UK, we're a small country, the government could at least hotspot the major cities
MearWolf...
you guys need to master the art of posting first ;)
Whats up with you and posting the same thing more than once. Yes, its mildly annoying.
sorry, i am a bit imaptient with loading times
You realize clicking more than once makes it take longer, if anything, right?
That's awesome; I love you Google. Now, mind moving over to Canada and the Toronto area?
Nice.. can't wait until they pollute the airwaves of more major cities like this. Not that I don't love this and all, but what kind of speed can you really expect unless you're pushing fiber to each one of the wifi hotspot routers?
I digress. Great work Google/Earthlink.
Googlink?
Earogle?
No?
Fine.
Chris
I don't think this will be really "free" as much as taxes will pay for the Wi-Fi.
AKBlade13
Where would [we] be, huh.
Great. Blogged here yesterday about these type of partnerships potentially breaking down the walled gardens of the mobile network operators: http://blog.nextblitz.com/
Of course ubiquitous portable wireless is one thing, and ubiquitous mobile wireless is another, but have to get there one step at a time.
I wouldn't be too excited about this - we have free wifi in Mt. View (thanks google) but the signal strength sucks almost everywhere, and speeds are very low where you can get a signal.
I am not convinced that this is a useful service. I certainly have not canceled by cable modem or EVDO card as a result.
There's already plenty of WiFi here (free and sort-free thanks to the ones not paying attention). Maybe Google could put more cops on the streets instead. Hell, maybe Google could fix the streets.
Kudos to Google. And isn't it funny, even in an offhand situation like a blog entry, that the writer will put in a "[Warning: PDF Link]"?
So much for adobe's "seamless" experience.
of course this would have to be announced now. i just got on a year long commitment with att/sbc/yahoo/whatever theyre calling themselves now.
We've got a petition going in th UK for free wireless internet coverage. Apparently the scheme is being trialled in one city. The petition is being run by the gadget show, and can be found at http://gadgetshow.five.tv/campaign/wifi/
From the San Francisco Chronicle online:
As part of the contract, Google, the Web search giant based in Mountain View, would offer free Internet service at 300 kilobits per second, a speed slower than what broadband access provides but fast enough for a user to surf the Web and send e-mail.
EarthLink, the Internet service provider, would own the network and offer a faster service, at 1 megabit per second, for $21.95 per month
Read more here:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/01/06/MNGOMNE4RM1.DTL
MetroFi's been unwrapping their coverage in Portland, and it's been going well so far. My handheld never gets a ton of signal with any particular hotspot, but I've been hearing from the laptop crowd that this city-wide free WiFi's a grand thing indeed. It's starting to feel strange going to places that *aren't* covered.