San Francisco’s Free Wifi Network, Sigh

Posted on August 1, 2007
Filed Under Wireless |

The proposed Google/Earthlink citywide wifi network in San Francisco has been debated for almost 2 years and not a single access point has made it through the guantlet that is the Board of Supervisors. It appear that Earthlink has now decided that citywide wifi is not the good business it once promised…

"The Wi-Fi business as currently constituted will not provide an acceptable return. We’re actively exploring ways to scale this business more economically," Rolla P. Huff, the company’s president and CEO, told investors on the conference call.

It’s really stunning that San Francisco’s politicians could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with such a spectacular display of political incompetence. Google wants to deliver this for free and the Board of Dupes can’t figure out that free really is free. Meanwhile, San Francisco’s residents still don’t have citywide wifi, free or not.

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Read more on Wireless networking, EarthLink at Wikinvest

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