The Wi-Fi network Google built for Mountain View becomes generally
available on Wednesday, providing free broadband wireless access in
this California city that the search engine giant calls home.
Google’s network includes 380 access points throughout this city,
which has about 72,000 residents and covers a 12-square mile area,
said Chris Sacca, Google’s head of special initiatives.
It will offer 1Mbps of throughput both upstream and downstream, and
that capacity can be increased if necessary, he said.
Google had been shooting for mid-September for the service’s official
launch, but it wrapped up its final tests ahead of time. About 1,000
people participated in the service’s test phase, he said.
Starting Wednesday, people with Wi-Fi devices will be able to pick up
the Google network’s signal and sign in with their Google account
user ID and password.
Those who don’t have a Google account will be able to create one by
simply choosing a password and entering an e-mail address. If they
don’t have an e-mail address, they will be able to create one as
well, he said.
Google has no plans to deliver online ads to the network’s users and
it isn’t charging the city anything for building the network. In
fact, the city stands to receive payments from Google for the
placement of equipment on city-owned light poles, Mountain View
officials have said in the past. Moreover, Google will cover
maintenance and utility costs.
"We have no business plan for this network," Sacca said. Google hopes
to benefit indirectly by the increased availability of Internet
access, and it believes it is contributing to its home city, where
more than 1,000 of its employees live, he said.
People should be able to reach the network inside their homes, to
some degree. "Wi-Fi signals are irregular and hard to predict, so
coverage varies depending on where you are, how close the node
happens to be and what your house is made of," Sacca said.
Residents can buy inexpensive repeater devices to boost and extend
the reception inside their homes, he said.
San Francisco, about 40 miles north of Mountain View, has chosen
Google and partner EarthLink to provide municipal Wi-Fi service. The
companies have proposed a two-tiered service: EarthLink would offer a
paid subscription service with speeds over 1Mbps and Google would
offer a 300K bps service for free. The companies are currently in
negotiations with the city on the terms of the agreement.
NEWS: Google launches Wi-Fi network in Mountain View 
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