Posted by Sam Churchill on November 16th, 2005
The city of Mountain View, California has accepted Google’s offer to blanket the city with free wireless Internet access (pdf).
Siliconvalley.com reports city leaders unanimously accepted Google’s offer (staff report pdf) Tuesday night to make Mountain View the first city in the Bay Area — and possibly the country — to get a full umbrella of free WiFi coverage.
Google will install as many as 400 access points the size of a shoe box on streetlamps throughout the city (Pole agreement pdf).
As part of a five-year contract starting by June, Google will test the system. In a matter of months, surfing the Web with a wireless laptop should be possible.
“It’s going to make us one of the first, if not the first, to have citywide Internet . It’s a pretty cool thing,” Mayor Matt Neely said. “We’re thrilled for all our neighbor cities who get to follow our lead.”
The council’s gleeful approval came despite concerns over radiation and privacy. Google maintains the radiation level is far below federal limits and that of most cell phones. The company also offered assurances about protecting users’ information.
Mountain View leaders say it’s only fitting that their city get free citywide Internet access, since Google sprouted in its back yard and has grown to become one of the world’s most powerful Internet search engines.
Google already has set up test centers at Kapp’s Pizza Bar and Grill on Castro Street in Mountain View and Airborne Gymnastics in Santa Clara. Most customers at Kapp’s didn’t even realize they could turn on their laptops and be online for free.
A flurry of e-mails between residents and city council members this week brought up a range of concerns about Google’s seemingly innocuous offer. Some said the hundreds of transmitters, about 20 to 30 per square mile, would emit radio waves with unknown health effects. Others had privacy concerns, saying Google might track their Web browsing and use it to sell tailored advertising.
City leaders say that’s beyond their realm; their involvement is limited to letting Google rent the city’s street lamps for $12,600 a year to place transmitters. People who don’t want to use the Google network system can simply opt out; users will have to take the initiative to log on.

The WiFi network will initially cover approximately 80 percent to 90 percent of the City. A portion of the City will not be initially covered due to the absence of City-owned streetlight poles in some pockets of the City. The base usage fee is $36 per pole, per year, adjusted annually per the CPI, resulting in approximately $12,600 or more in revenue to the City per year.
Google has agreed to equip the City’s new mobile Library services vehicle (Googlemobile) with mobile wireless equipment to allow customers to use the Internet.
San Francisco is considering a similar offer from Google.
Google’s San Francisco Wi-Fi network was created in partnership with Feeva, a free, ad-supported wireless service. According Feeva, they “identify, target and deliver relevant and useful information to the user, in collaboration with online media, content, advertising and search services”.
Other California cities are offering WiFi clouds, too. But an ad-supported free WiFi network would be something different.
In its offer, Google product manager Minnie Ingersoll said the company wants to use Mountain View as a test site to learn more about the cost and the challenges of building and supporting a wireless network, with the ultimate aim of driving more traffic to Google.
With 1,000 employees living in Mountain View, Google said it was a good place to test services and products and understand its emerging technology. The company also said free wireless gives access to people who can’t afford monthly Internet fees.
Google is going to encourage people to secure their connections, either through a free virtual private network connection from Google or others it’ll make available from outside vendors.
Other “free” city clouds are operational in Dayton’s Ohio (using Cisco gear), Saint Cloud Florida (using 300 Tropos nodes), and parts of San Francisco (using Google’s Location-Based Ads).
Related Dailywireless stories include; Dayton’s Ad-Supported Cloud, SF Tries Free, Ad-driven WiFi, FreeSpot Guides, Kentucky Parks Get WiFi, Ad Supported Wireless Net, Cellular Ads, Gizmondo’s Handheld Ads, Free Mesh Clouds, Iowa’s Highway Free Spots, Washington State Unwires Parks (& History), Ad Supported FreeFi, Directional Advertising Grows, Wireless Advertising on Buses, Streetcar Ads, Adware, FreeFi, AMD’s FreeSpots, DotSpot Ad Server, and Bridging the Divide.
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