Free San Francisco Wi-Fi project dies
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EarthLink has backed out of a deal to build San Francisco's free citywide Wi-Fi service.
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(InfoWorld) - Silicon Valley will get a homegrown Wi-Fi network from Cisco Systems to provide Internet access in metropolitan areas spread across about 1,500 square miles. The Wireless Silicon Valley Task Force chose a group led by Cisco and IBM to build and operate the network, which will cover areas between the southern border of San Francisco and Santa Cruz, and from the Pacific inland to the opposite side of San Francisco Bay. Cisco will provide the infrastructure and IBM will be the master system integrator for the project. Their team, called Silicon Valley Metro Connect, also includes Azulstar Networks, which will be the service provider operating the network, and SeaKay, a nonprofit that will help get disadvantaged residents online. As municipalities around the world jump on the public Wi-Fi bandwagon, the Silicon Valley project takes a high profile because of both its location in a legendary high-tech region and its sheer size. Although Silicon Valley Metro Connect's current plans wouldn't cover the entire region, large parts of which are lightly populated or undeveloped, the project has gotten sign-in from 42 municipalities. A notable exception is Mountain View, which has its ownÂ city Wi-Fi networkÂ provided by hometown giant Google. Silicon Valley Metro Connect is now entering into negotiations with the task force, said Alan Cohen, senior director of mobility solutions at Cisco. There will probably be a wide variety of services and business models, including paid service, free Internet access and use of the network by government agencies, he said. The first parts of the network should be up and running in the fourth quarter, Cohen said, but he described the whole project as a "multi-year effort." The offering will focus initially on outdoor coverage in populated areas of cities, though some users may be able to reach the network from indoors. The company envisions a network that uses 802.11b/g to connect with users' notebook PCs and other devices and 802.11a, with directional antennas, for meshed backhaul links to wired networks. It will use a wireless LAN switch model with lightweight access points that are centrally controlled. Wider-range WiMax technology could come into play later, Cohen said. Cisco, IBM, and SeaKay also were behind a proposal for San Francisco's planned Wi-Fi network. There, theyÂ lost out to Google and EarthLinkÂ in April, but the group said it would compete for municipal wireless projects around the country under the Metro Connect banner.
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By JUDY O'ROURKE  SANTA CLARITA -- The days of patronizing certain food or coffee joints to tap a wireless Internet feed may soon be past, with citywide access on the horizon.
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By Clint Swett, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.  Jun. 18--After more than a year of fits and starts, Sacramento is on the verge of approving a system that would blanket the city with free and paid wireless Internet coverage for both residents and visitors.
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The sun came out for EarthLinks&#39; Philadelphia Wi-Fi network on Thursday even as prospects for its San Francisco project remain shrouded in fog.
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City officials have scrapped plans to blanket the city of Chicago with an ambitious Wi-Fi network, citing costs and that too few residents would use it, as the principal reasons.
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Pennsylvania may block Philly's Wi-Fi plan. [News.com Extra]
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With a rash of muni Wi-Fi projects collapsing, companies and cities realize their initial approaches to providing ubiquitous, free network connectivity aren't working. The problem is Wi-Fi is too expensive to deploy, and there's not enough user demand.
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A plan to blanket San Francisco with Wi-Fi fell apart last year, but now a startup named Meraki says it plans to deliver free, ad-supported Wi-Fi access in in the city.
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A Silicon Valley startup is promising to blanket San Francisco with free wireless Internet service, reviving a crusade that crumbled last year after two much larger companies, EarthLink Inc. and Google Inc., scrapped their plans to build a high-speed network for Web surfing.
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By Miriam Hill, The Philadelphia Inquirer  Dec. 18--The grand experiment is about to begin.   Philadelphia's push to become the country's first major city with free, or at least cheap, wireless Internet connections, takes a big step forward this month as EarthLink Inc.
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By Justin Buehler, Victoria Advocate, Texas  Jun. 4--BAY CITY -- The entire city of Bay City is going Wi-Fi.
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Google and Earthlink tried, and failed, disappearing in a sea of bureaucratic red tape. Now a startup hopes to persuade San Franciscans to voluntarily put radio repeaters on their rooftops. Good luck with that.
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(InfoWorld) - Google and EarthLink's Wi-Fi contract with San Francisco would have a renewable four-year term and would require a proof-of-concept deployment before the full network is rolled out, if progress so far in negotiations holds firm, according to the city. TheÂ companies were chosenÂ earlier this year to build and operate a citywide Wi-Fi network with both free and faster paid services. San Francisco officials are now negotiating with them on the exact terms of the relationship, in which the vendors will bear the cost of the network while the city will provide the use of light poles and other city assets for deploying it. The city has said it expects the network to go live in 2007. The parties have made progress in the talks, which began in May, said Brian Roberts, a senior policy analyst for the city's Department of Telecommunications and Information Services. On Friday afternoon, he defended that progress to the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) when asked about an article last week in the San Francisco Chronicle in which a Google executive said little had been decided. LAFCO is a county agency that provides oversight of cable TV franchises and other issues. Nothing is definite until the entire contract is agreed upon, Roberts said, but he highlighted some areas where he said there is accord so far. As negotiations stand now, Google and EarthLink would have a contract to provide the wireless broadband service for four years. At the end of that term, the city could shut down the arrangement without having to show a specific cause, he said. It could also demand the technology be upgraded as a condition for renewing the deal. The term could then be renewed as many as three times, for a total period of 16 years. The vendors first would have to roll out a test network, which would cover about two square miles, for as long as six months to show whether their technology would really work, Roberts said. The talks also have addressed some of theÂ thorny privacy issuesÂ that have generated criticism he said. Google and EarthLink would be able to collect information about a user's whereabouts while using the network, but that user would be able to opt out of giving that information, Roberts said. If they collect the information, the vendors could only keep the data for 60 days. During that time, they couldn't share information about specific users except in certain cases in which it's sought by law enforcement or courts. In exchange for the use of its rights of way, San Francisco is seeking 5 percent of gross revenue from the network, Roberts said. It also will seek a fee for use of city-owned light poles. That money would help to support city initiatives to narrow the digital divide between rich and poor residents. Negotiators haven't reached agreement on those financial terms, he said. Members of LAFCO were skeptical about some aspects of the talks so far, including the city's revenue demands. San Francisco Supervisor Jake McGoldrick said he feared the city was undervaluing the city's assets by seeking just 5 percent of revenue. Roberts said that percentage would be very competitive with what other U.S. cities have gotten.ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
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The ACLU has complained that EarthLink and Google's proposed public Wi-Fi network in San Francisco doesn't adequately protect freedom of speech and privacy.
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(InfoWorld) - Two important votesÂ concerning San Francisco's plan for citywide Wi-Fi that were set for this week have been pushed back, delaying what may be life-or-death decisions on the controversial network. One vote of the city's fractious Board of Supervisors could force the project to undergo an environmental impact study. The other, by the board's Budget and Finance Committee, would reject the plan or send it on to the full body for final approval. Hanging in the balance is a proposal that was introduced by Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2004 and has become one of the major initiatives of his administration. As the votes were pushed back, Board President Aaron Peskin was preparing a set of amendments to theÂ contract hammered out by the city and EarthLinkÂ in January. Those changes aim to address concerns of some critics but may not win over vocal opponents on the board. San Francisco is one of many municipalities pursuing wireless networks to make Internet access more widely available, both to close the technology gap between richer and poorer residents and to boost the local economy. Its contract calls for EarthLink to offer 1MbpsÂ service for about $20 per month and GoogleÂ to offer a free service on the same network. Activists and some leaders in the city have raised alarms that echo worries in some other cities, such as how well the network will perform. They have also raised issues that are specific to San Francisco. For example, Google's proposed free service has come under particular fire for allegedly threatening users' privacy and being too slow, at 300Kbps. In one local twist, the San Francisco Neighborhood Antenna-Free Union (SNAFU) has appealed an April decision of the city's Planning Commission that exempted the network from environmental review. SNAFU, which has fought the placement of cellular base stations near schools, hospitals and some other sites, says Wi-Fi access points on light poles could harm residents' health. It will be up to the Board to force the review or let the exemption stand. At a pro-Wi-Fi rally outside City Hall on Tuesday, Newsom and other speakers called for quick approval of the project and scoffed at the environmental concerns. Newsom called the environmental question "a canard." Citywide Wi-Fi is critical to minority communities that lack Internet access and is being fought mostly by people who have it, speakers at the rally said. Leslie Rule, an educational technologist at local public broadcaster KQED, said she had read all of SNAFU's appeal of the Planning Department's decision. "They're worried about things that don't exist," she said. The rally brought together multiple groups from minority communities and drew about 100 protestors waving "Wi-Fi Now" signs. Peskin's proposed amendments, not yet spelled out in detail, include contract terms that would force EarthLink to serve all parts of the city and would boost the speed of the Google service to 500Kbps and protect users' privacy. They also would limit the term of network deal, under which the city would lease its light poles to EarthLink for placement of radios, to eight years and give the city the right to then buy the network. In general, the proposals are things the city tried to get during its own negotiations with EarthLink, said Brian Roberts, a senior policy analyst at the city's Department of Telecommunications & Information Services, which negotiated the deal with EarthLink. The city chose to try to conclude the talks and get the network built rather than press for every term it wanted, he said. "If Supervisor Peskin can get them, God bless him," Roberts said. Peskin said via e-mail on Tuesday that EarthLink had not yet responded to the proposed changes. If Peskin can work out terms he likes with EarthLink, the contract is likely to pass through the Budget and Finance Committee, on which he serves. But on the full board, some long-time opponents question the amendments and other members are also waiting to see more details. Â
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Chicago has scrapped its ambitious plan to blanket the city with Wi-Fi coverage, saying it would be too expensive.