Citywide WiFi a Reality
It’s been speculated for quite some time that Google has intended to provide free city-wide WiFi for San Francisco. In my mind, this is not a “what if” but “when”. I expect it to happen.
But you don’t get there without a proof-of-concept.
Last week, Silicon Beat posted an entry on Google’s “proposal to the Mountain View, CA city council”:http://www.siliconbeat.com/entries/2005/11/10/more_on_googles_mountain_view_wifi_proposal.html to deploy city-wide WiFi to the California town which is home to the Googleplex, Google headquarters.
The Mountain View officials have accepted the offer and “Google is moving forward with its plan”:http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/11/wi-fi-in-mountain-view.html. Naturally, the entrenched telcos and cable providers like “Verizon are opposing the plan”:http://prismspectrum.blogspot.com/2005/10/google-proposes-free-wi-fi-for-san.html. Naturally, they charge for internet access.
I wrote about this the other day when speaking of “Reliance Revolution”:http://www.technosailor.com/reliance-revolution, where I speculated that folks would become less reliant on corporate entities and more reliant on standards. In other words, _change_. Changes in how companies do business. Changes in how companies see their marketing and promotions. Changes in how companies view their customers.
“Rob May”:http://www.businesspundit.com/ makes an excellent point in _More Space_, the book where business bloggers talk about business. He says (and I quote from memory since my copy is at home) that business is not about making profit as profit is simply what allows busienss to continue. Business is about filling the needs of the customer, whoever the customer might be.
In the case of Google and WiFi, we are the customer. For so long, Verizon and Comcast have told us what we need.
them: You need high-speed internet and we’re willing to charge you for it.
us: Okay.
them. You need 153 channels of hi-def and premium movie packages and we can charge you.
us. Okay.
them: Why should you get free wifi when we can charge you?
us: I don’t know…good point.
See the irony? What are our needs as consumers? Surely you can’t fault Google for recognizing the need for internet access for everyone. Perhaps the Verizon’s of the world need to examione how they are doing business and find an alternate way of making money off of the same standards. Google is. They just aren’t charging us. They make their money from advertising revenue and always have.
The problem with these big inefficient “tech” companies is that they can’t see the forest through the trees. They are so obsessed with the way they have always done business that they can’t be nimble enough to change when the market forces demand it.
I’m confident that Mountain View and San Francisco won’t be the only wireless cities in the world. If it works there, you’ll have free wifi coming to a city near you. Trust me.
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Written by Aaron Brazell on November 18, 2005
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Next stop London please, Mr Google. :)
Next stop London please, Mr Google. :)
Everything you said certainly has merit and good points to the wi-fi deployments. I too think that most cities will have wi-fi but am not convinced that it will be in the near future. Mainly because the cities are not tech minded and need to rely on the companies to provide them solutions and what about the solutions.. lots of variables. Then the real issues is the security and the protection of the users and their data. We have recently started a blog regarding Secure Wi-Fi and a new product that has been researched and now being tested to assist in the security for the wi-fi industry. So, if companies and individuals could be sure that they are hacker proof, the wi-fi stands a chance of being more accepted and people would not even mind the cities or entities of charging them. I understand people pushing for free but there is usually a price to pay for free somewhere. Whether it is the company themselves supplying for free in hopes of getting advertisers to pay for the cost or using it as a leader or gathering emails or databases.. somewhere there will be a price to pay.
Everything you said certainly has merit and good points to the wi-fi deployments. I too think that most cities will have wi-fi but am not convinced that it will be in the near future. Mainly because the cities are not tech minded and need to rely on the companies to provide them solutions and what about the solutions.. lots of variables. Then the real issues is the security and the protection of the users and their data. We have recently started a blog regarding Secure Wi-Fi and a new product that has been researched and now being tested to assist in the security for the wi-fi industry. So, if companies and individuals could be sure that they are hacker proof, the wi-fi stands a chance of being more accepted and people would not even mind the cities or entities of charging them. I understand people pushing for free but there is usually a price to pay for free somewhere. Whether it is the company themselves supplying for free in hopes of getting advertisers to pay for the cost or using it as a leader or gathering emails or databases.. somewhere there will be a price to pay.
Comment to person who posted above: alot of people are VERY insecure. Trust me, I talk to tech guru’s who were once involved in computer crimes, but had a change of heart. These fellas just do security reports for companies and the government and they told me an alarming amount of terminals are left unsecure one way or another. Not to mention we are making tremendous wakes in WiFi security and speed. And by the way, Google, Chicago please :-) only ‘cuz I hate driving 5 minutes looking for a hot spot to wardrive
Comment to person who posted above: alot of people are VERY insecure. Trust me, I talk to tech guru’s who were once involved in computer crimes, but had a change of heart. These fellas just do security reports for companies and the government and they told me an alarming amount of terminals are left unsecure one way or another. Not to mention we are making tremendous wakes in WiFi security and speed. And by the way, Google, Chicago please :-) only ‘cuz I hate driving 5 minutes looking for a hot spot to wardrive
Good call, Jacob. I might also add that the same argument that Judy posed regarding security and wifi is pretty deja vu with viruses and worms. Then people (not all people) became more saavy with protection through lots of education. I see the same thing for wifi. If users are educated regarding the risks of wifi then perhaps they can be empowered to protect themselves.
Good call, Jacob. I might also add that the same argument that Judy posed regarding security and wifi is pretty deja vu with viruses and worms. Then people (not all people) became more saavy with protection through lots of education. I see the same thing for wifi. If users are educated regarding the risks of wifi then perhaps they can be empowered to protect themselves.
Free Wi-Fi won’t work. They need to go the route of Earthlink and MobilePro who are charging an end price. MobilePro is opening up their networks (they won Sacramento, CA, Tempe, AZ, Chandler, AZ and Farmers Branch, TX) to other service providers which means “competition” in the service department.
Free Wi-Fi won’t work. They need to go the route of Earthlink and MobilePro who are charging an end price. MobilePro is opening up their networks (they won Sacramento, CA, Tempe, AZ, Chandler, AZ and Farmers Branch, TX) to other service providers which means “competition” in the service department.
We have been pushing the idea of using colleges (especially urban and suburban) as anchors for broadband wireless deployments for some time. These institutions have a built in audience (students, faculty, staff), are a lot more tech savvy than most cities. Plus, they are hungry for the technology. We have a deployed at 4 small colleges and have idetified dozens of schools ready to work with us. Google would be the ideal partner to come in as a sponsor for these deployments to close the funding gap. Thoughts on this, anyone?
We have been pushing the idea of using colleges (especially urban and suburban) as anchors for broadband wireless deployments for some time. These institutions have a built in audience (students, faculty, staff), are a lot more tech savvy than most cities. Plus, they are hungry for the technology. We have a deployed at 4 small colleges and have idetified dozens of schools ready to work with us. Google would be the ideal partner to come in as a sponsor for these deployments to close the funding gap. Thoughts on this, anyone?
Bobby—
Nothing beats competition than cheaper. Ask Walmart’s competitors. And nothing is cheaper than free. It’s not like Google is losing money on this. I don’t see how your comment is anything more that a “seminar call” from a telco. Do you work for Verizon or Earthlink, by chance?
Thomas, sounds like a winner to me. Generally, the “open source” movements, from code to in this case wifi, have had strong support and anchorage in universities. Let me know if you need help from publicity to anything else.
Bobby—
Nothing beats competition than cheaper. Ask Walmart’s competitors. And nothing is cheaper than free. It’s not like Google is losing money on this. I don’t see how your comment is anything more that a “seminar call” from a telco. Do you work for Verizon or Earthlink, by chance?
Thomas, sounds like a winner to me. Generally, the “open source” movements, from code to in this case wifi, have had strong support and anchorage in universities. Let me know if you need help from publicity to anything else.
Google is progressing very fast with all this tecnology.
Google is progressing very fast with all this tecnology.
The antennas have sprouted over many parts of Mountain View.
I have some pictures of them, here: http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/vkraemer?entry=seeing_a_wifi_future
I did a little ‘driving, but it doesn’t seem like the mesh is “live”, yet.
The antennas have sprouted over many parts of Mountain View.
I have some pictures of them, here: http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/vkraemer?entry...
I did a little ‘driving, but it doesn’t seem like the mesh is “live”, yet.
Nice! Makes me feel like I’m in War of the Worlds or something, though… :)
Nice! Makes me feel like I’m in War of the Worlds or something, though… :)