Google Confirms Free San Francisco WiFi Plans
Google is making a bid to build a San Francisco-wide free wifi network, according to company officials. The company today filed documents in response to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s request for information for the city wide network. Google’s WiFi plans were first reported by Business 2.0 magazine as part of the GoogleNet article. The company says if its bid is approved, then it is willing to start the work on the network within weeks.
Google officials say San Francisco residents (and visitors) will enjoy a free 300 kilobits per second, always on connection anywhere in the city. As part of its proposal, the company says it will be offering wholesale access to other service providers, who will offer higher throughput connections to their customers. Google says it plans to use its own authentication services. (That explains the Google WiFi VPN client to some extent). The company is going to use San Diego-based WFI, a cellular network builder company to build out the WiFi network.
The company proposes to build a network using third party hardware. Google officials say, its free WiFi plans are restricted only to San Francisco. The company does offer free wifi access in Mountain View and New York’s Bryant Park.
“San Francisco will be a true test bed for location based services and applications,” says Chris Sacca, principal of new business development at Google. While the initial use of location-based services might be limited to more-focussed and targeted advertising, the potential of location-based services is immense, officials said. Sacca pointed out that the network bid was in line with Google’s thinking on delivering answers anytime anywhere to anyone, and looking beyond a desktop PC.
When asked if this puts the company in direct conflict with incumbents like SBC and Comcast, Sacca replied, “I think a few months ago, we might have thought that, but we have talked to them and it seems the thinking is evolving amongst other last mile providers.”
I wonder how it impacts others who want to get involved with the muniwireless space? The Google Talk implications on a free network are quite far reaching, if you ask me, but then that’s just me.
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Has Google just increased the value of every property in SF?
OM pretty slick work I should say. You are the un-official PR man for Google. So do we see Google Phone in SFO , hand held with Google Talk that allows you to touch base pretty much with anybody on your contact list. Perhaps sounds very far-fetched, but definitely is a possibility.
[When asked if this puts the company in direct conflict with incumbents like SBC and Comcast, Sacca replied, âI think a few months ago, we might have thought that, but we have talked to them and it seems the thinking is evolving amongst other last mile providers.â?]
Hmm, so what does the Sacca quote mean? Are they competing with SBC and Comcast or not?
sweet i can now sit in doleras park and “work”. Muhuahua!
check (tglo.com)new web site with mobil voip and 4.8 mil downloads.
is this new chapter for little skype called TGLO.COM
Google controls access, google controls search, does google control the internet?
For comparison, Verizon Broadband is $79.99 a month with a 2 year contract which stipulates:
Unlimited NationalAccess/BroadbandAccess services cannot be used (1) for uploading, downloading or streaming of movies, music or games, (2) with server devices or with host computer applications, including, but not limited to, Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, Voice over IP (VoIP), automated machine-to-machine connections, or peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, or (3) as a substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections.
So with Verizon you can’t even use Skype.
On a more interesting note, a kid with a cheap computer with free access to Wikipedia probably has more opportunities to learn than a kid at a posh private school in 1990.
This is the kind of stuff that happens in truly free markets, it’s a beautiful thing.
It looks good & nice in theory but as we all know that there is no free lunch, i am not sure whether Google can sustain this free acces!
I hope that Google has a business plan based on this free thing….
Nice! Wish Google spent the money that they raised trying to make some money so that they investors get a return. None of their new business launches have added a penny to their bottom line, and now infrastructure expenses where they have little industry experience and expertise on board..esp. telco and wireless.
Of course, they have a plan, but I think the number of shares the insiders are selling makes me think that they have little confidence in their own plans, seems like over a billion dollars in shares sold!!!
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=GOOG
KirkH:
do you have a link to these terms of service? that’s incredible!