San Francisco to get free Wi-Fi internet access

The City of San Francisco could become the first major U.S. metropolitan area to deliver municipal wireless Internet services citywide and will do it without the use of BPL. This, after it announces it has reached a tentative deal with Earthlink to offer free RF based Wi-Fi access to its residents.

Earthlink is reported to be working with partners including Google Inc. to develop a free wireless Internet program throughout the hilly city of 777,000 residents.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said the agreement reached on Friday, January 5th between the city and Earthlink will provide wireless Internet access at no cost to taxpayers and would be extended to cover neighborhoods throughout San Francisco over time.

The deal, gives Earthlink access to public rights of way to install the necessary Wi-Fi antennas. It follows more than a year of negotiations and public hearings where backers sought to assuage the public over privacy and security concerns.

And perhaps the biggest winner is the ham radio community of San Francisco. A number of BPL providers had suggested the city adopt a wired infrastructure using Broadband Over Powerline technology, but when the dust settled, BPL was completely left out in the cold.

Other cities including Philadelphia, New Orleans and Portland, Oregon, are also developing citywide wireless networks of their own.

Details of the San Francisco-Earthlink deal can be found at www.sfgov.org/techconnect.

Source: Amateur Radio Newsline

Latest news stories..

• Get our news headlines for your website • Submit your news story

• Visit our bookshop

Free Competition
Win one of five, one-year subscriptions  Click here