From The San Jose Mercury News via Dewayne's list
Posted on Wed, Nov. 16, 2005
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/13182596.htm
Mtn. View accepts Google's offer of free WiFi
By Renee Koury
Mercury News
With hometown Internet star Google offering to blanket Mountain View
with free wireless Internet access, the city is leaping ahead of
neighbors in the race to be Silicon Valley's most tech-savvy town.
City leaders unanimously accepted Google's offer Tuesday night to make
Mountain View the first city in the Bay Area -- and possibly the
country -- to get a full umbrella of free WiFi coverage. Google will
install as many as 400 transmitters the size of a shoe box on
streetlamps throughout the city.
As part of a five-year contract starting by June, Google will test the
system, which will link wireless-ready laptops to the Internet in most
of the city. In a matter of months, surfing the Web with a wireless
laptop should be possible from a sidewalk cafe on Castro Street. But a
paddleboat at Shoreline Park might be problematic -- unless it's near
a streetlamp.
"It's going to make us one of the first, if not the first, to
have citywide Internet . It's a pretty cool thing," Mayor
Matt Neely said. "We're thrilled for all our neighbor cities
who get to follow our lead."
The council's gleeful approval came despite concerns over radiation
and privacy. Google maintains the radiation level is far below federal
limits and that of most cell phones. The company also offered
assurances about protecting users' information.
While cities across the Bay Area are moving ahead with plans to offer
wide swaths of free WiFi coverage, the Google deal propels Mountain
View into the spotlight. San Francisco is considering a similar offer
from Google to test free WiFi citywide. San Jose officials recently
approved a deal to link their downtown to free wireless access, as
well as community centers and branch libraries.
Palo Alto has plenty of WiFi hot spots, especially downtown. But the
city is on a different quest to become the first in the Bay Area to
bring a fiber-optic connection to every home. The big sticking point
has been the estimated cost of $40 million.
"It would be nice to have the free Internet for those who
want it, but wireless can only do certain things," Palo Alto
City Councilman Bern Beecham said.
Instead, he said, the city is more interested in pursuing
fiber-optics, which can provide residents with far greater digital
possibilities such as downloads of movies and large computer
files. The plan is scheduled to come up in January when new council
members take office.
Mountain View leaders say it's only fitting that their city get free
citywide Internet access, since Google sprouted in its back yard and
has grown to become one of the world's most powerful Internet search
engines.
"We are in the birthplace, the heart and soul of Silicon Valley, so
not to have citywide WiFi is almost embarrassing," City Councilman
Mike Kasperzak said. "It's great for people who live here, who work
here, who want to go sit downtown and log on, and to some degree it's
helping Google test out a theory."
But Google warns the signal may weaken behind walls, and users might
need extra equipment that costs up to $100 to improve reception.
Google already has set up test centers at Kapp's Pizza Bar and Grill
on Castro Street in Mountain View and Airborne Gymnastics in Santa
Clara. Most customers at Kapp's didn't even realize they could turn on
their laptops and be online for free. The exception was Huberto
Acevedo, 26, of San Jose, whose father owns Kapp's. He was sitting in
a corner browsing the Internet and viewing e-mail.
"I think it'd be really convenient to have this everywhere," said
Acevedo, who likes to hunt for automotive parts online. "But I wonder
how it will be to have all those radio waves everywhere. We already
have transmitters for cell phones and TV and PDAs, and the sun's
pretty damaging, too. It makes you wonder about health."
Some residents wondered the same thing. A flurry of e-mails between
residents and city council members this week brought up a range of
concerns about Google's seemingly innocuous offer. Some said the
hundreds of transmitters, about 20 to 30 per square mile, would emit
radio waves with unknown health effects. Others had privacy concerns,
saying Google might track their Web browsing and use it to sell
tailored advertising.
City leaders say that's beyond their realm; their involvement is
limited to letting Google rent the city's street lamps for $12,600 a
year to place transmitters. People who don't want to use the Google
network system can simply opt out; users will have to take the
initiative to log on.
Citywide WiFi is expected to bring more customers to downtown since
people can get work done while they dine, or between errands.
"This is really about the city enabling people to do WiFi and for
those who want it, it seems like a desirable service," said Elaine
Costello, the city's community development director. "It's not like
it's going to be a requirement."
Google is also testing its WiFi idea at Rockefeller Center in New York
and Union Square in San Francisco.
In its offer, Google product manager Minnie Ingersoll said the company
wants to use Mountain View as a test site to learn more about the cost
and the challenges of building and supporting a wireless network, with
the ultimate aim of driving more traffic to Google.
With 1,000 employees living in Mountain View, Google said it was a
good place to test services and products and understand its emerging
technology. The company also said free wireless gives access to people
who can't afford monthly Internet fees.
Weblog at: http://weblog.warpspeed.com
John F. McMullen
http://www.westnet.com/~observer
-=-=-=-=-=-
Dewayne adds:
o Here's a pointer to an entry from David Isenberg's blog on a town in
Pepperell, MA that has covered itself with a wireless cloud. David points
out that he thinks that municipal wireless has now passed the 'tipping
point':
http://isen.com/blog/2005/11/home-town-newspaper-makes-good.html>http://isen.com/blog
o Here's a pointer to a project that I'm involved with in New Mexico. In
this case, a county rather then a city is being covered:
http://muniwireless.com/municipal/projects/914>http://muniwireless.com
and
http://muniwireless.com/technology/923>http://muniwireless.com
I'll leave the tipping point call to others, but one thing is clear,
you're going to see a continuous stream of articles and news on
similar rollouts across the country from now on.
-- Dewayne
Direct replies are unlikely to be read. To reply use the address below:
falco(underscore)md(atsign)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And, needless to say, SBC (the telco)
is fit to be tied about it. The more people who get involved with
municipal WiFi means fewer folks need to use SBC internet DSL, and
that, says telco, is Bad News. Here in Independence, our local McDonalds
Restaurant offers free WiFi to their customers, but in actual practice
the signal is good enough it can be picked up anywhere on 10th Street
between Main Street to the south and Laurel Street to the north, about
two city blocks along 10th Street. A half-block of that area is the
McDonalds, but you can sit in a car in the parking lot at Marvins
store and recieve it also, as well as _sometimes_ catty-corner in the
Arco Building parking lot on 9th Street. PAT]
Marcus Didius Falco (falco_marcus_didius@yahoo.co.uk)