A blanket of free WiFi over the entire city of San Francisco? I'd like to see that, even if it is only 300 Kbps.
I found out there's this weird-ass music shop in SOMA that's an Ampeg dealer, where I picked up a spankin' new SVT Anniversary at a killer price. Screw Guitar Center, although I have to admit that their 30 day full refund policy is pretty handy. Ever paranoid, I found a road case for it on Craigslist, being sold by the guy in this band.
Not much interesting I can broadcast on the work tip. Lots of shows coming up, though. I'll keep ya posted.
Comments (3)
does this mean you could session World of Warcraft at the corner of 16th and Valencia? or check your bank balance while scoring one and one's? the possibilities are staggering...
Posted by chris radio | October 1, 2005 12:18 PM
Posted on October 1, 2005 12:18
I think "free" means it will likely comes with targeted advertising. Not to mention quesions about security, bandwidth, etc.. With all the WiFi routers scattered about (many of which are unsecured), isn't SF practically blanketed with free internet already?
I rather think the contract Earthlink recently won for the city of Philadelphia makes better sense - $20/mo. for household access, $10/mo. for lower income households. In addition, public spaces amounting to 10 percent of the city will get free access.
Posted by Raphy | October 6, 2005 10:59 AM
Posted on October 6, 2005 10:59
Well, bandwidth is certainly an issue -- it's only 300kbps, which is a lot slower than what SBC or Comcast offers here. Regardless, SF is far from blanketed with free WiFi already, and believe me, I've looked. There are quite a few visible access points, but nearly all of them are WEP-enabled. Certain neighborhoods (like the Mission) have pockets of free Wi-Fi at cafes, but places like the Richmond are not so well-covered.
I don't view Google's offering as something that I'd use as a primary method of getting online. 300kbps is way too slow for my needs -- I'm used to 3Mbps. 6Mbps at home. Yeah, I'm spoiled. But, knowing that I can get online anytime in a pinch, even just to grab emails at 300kpbs, is cool. I'll put up with ads for that.
My Philly peeps: anyone know how the service has gone over?
Also, Google is just getting hyped in the press over this because of speculation that the company is going to be offering nationwide Wi-Fi to support its march towards a Web-powered operating system. There are 23 companies in the running for the citywide service, and I'm sure they all have a different take on what makes for a good public Wi-Fi offering.
Posted by BK | October 6, 2005 11:22 AM
Posted on October 6, 2005 11:22