Google and the city of San Francisco just announced that they’re bringing free wifi service to 31 parks, plazas and open spaces across the city by the bay.
San Francisco Supervisor Mark Farrell said Google is set to fund the program with a $600,000 grant.
“By providing free Wi-Fi in almost every corner of the city,” Farrell said, “we can further open up the doors of education, innovation, and inclusivity to every resident and visitor who takes advantage of our world-class parks, plazas, and open spaces.”
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee couldn’t have been happier about the free wifi progam. He told the San Jose Mercury News that public-private partnership like this are the “key to the delivery of better services for our residents.”
This is just Google’s latest foray into free municipal wifi networks. The internet search giant also offers free wifi in Mountain View, the city where its based, and in a handful of other cities where it has data centers. The company is also working on a wifi network that will cover a 10-block area around its offices in Manhattan.
“Google is proud to provide free WiFi in San Francisco, a city where thousands of Googlers work and live,” said Veronica Bell, one of Google’s Community Affairs Managers.
City politics being what they are, this isn’t a done deal yet. It still has to work its way through the planning department, and of course, the parks commission and the Board of Supervisors will undoubtedly have additional concerns that will need to be addressed.
Nevertheless, Supervisor Farrell hopes to have the free Google wifi system up and running by the tie spring 2014 rolls around.
Editorial note: We applaud forward-thinking municipalities like San Francisco and companies like Google. As far as we’re concerned, public/private programs like this are the key to spreading free internet across the nation. The faster they evolve, the better off we’ll all be.
Source: Mercury News
amanda says
I live in a rural area,there are a few home WiFi signals,but they are locked.There’s nothing like WiFi towers here,so yes again those of us that can’t afford good phones and WiFi cnt get lucky enough to ha e it provided for us like those big fancy Richy states do.:(
CheapInternet.com Administrator says
Yeah, residents of rural areas always have a difficult time getting wifi/internet access. The economics of the situation just make it almost impossible for them to service rural areas adequately.
mike says
How embarrassing that this wasn’t already the case! In Paris, FR, free broadband has been the norm for such nearly ten years!
Let’s not stop with S.F..
How can we get free intent. access in every town / city venue? Corporate sponsors, municipal budgets, partnerships could be a start.
God bless America.