Google offers to unwire SF for free

Glenn Fleishman says,

I believe Om Malik had the story first that Google confirmed it was one of the bidders for SF's proposed municipal Wi-Fi network and will offer Wi-Fi for free to residents.

The network's goal is to bring the possibility of Internet access at speeds much higher than dial up -- which means high-quality VoIP is not a stretch -- to most of the city's population without requiring a phone line and at lower cost than the cheapest DSL or cable.

What's interesting, of course, is that like other municipal wireless proposals, speed is one of the issues. The first generation of these networks will be slow --Google is saying about 300 Kbps for most people. In Philadelphia their spec is 1 Mbps each way, but I will doubt if most people get more than about 500 Kbps based on how the networks will hook into homes (no exterior antennas, using high-gain Wi-Fi bridges). Google says SF for now, no broad plans, and figures advertising will pay for its costs.

The proposal shouldn't cost the city anything nor its citizens individually, although the city will likely make facilities available to the winning bidder such as poles and street conduits that would otherwise require permits and fees from any other private contractor.

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