3 replies to this topic

[Nvyseal]

Folks in China could get free WiFi, if their WOK is big enough

All woks point to Mountain View...

Google's benevolence becomes reality today.

Well, in Mountain View, at least.

After months of beta testing and anticipation, the Internet giant plans to open up its free, wireless Internet network to Mountain View's 72,000 residents.

The network covers about 90 percent of the city's 12 square miles and offers maximum data-transfer speeds of up to 1 megabit per second -- slightly slower than DSL.

The company moved up its launch of the network in part, it says, because of the onslaught of people asking to be testers. One thousand residents tested it this summer.

``The feedback was overwhelming positive,'' said Chris Sacca, head of special initiatives for Google. ``It's glowing, and in fact it's why we're launching the network earlier than we planned. It's hard to keep up with the requests to get on the network.''

To build the network, Google mounted 380 transceivers, made by Sunnyvale-based Tropos Networks, on light poles throughout the city. The devices will allow residents within 500 feet to connect wirelessly to the Internet.

The Mountain View-based company spent in the ``ballpark'' of $1 million on the project, Sacca said. And the company agreed to pay Mountain View $36 per light pole, or about $13,680, annually, although that number may grow slightly as the company plans to install a few more transceivers as residents request more access.

The money is a drop in the bucket for a company that collected $2.5 billion in revenue for the quarter ending June 30, analysts said. Ninety-nine percent of that revenue came from online advertising.

Source

[m.oreilly]

i saw this. pretty neat...maybe...the new SBC (i wonder when they will start printing their own currency...)

[Nvyseal]

m.oreilly, on Aug 16 2006, 09:28 PM, said:

i saw this. pretty neat. the new SBC

...maybe. i wonder when they will start printing their own currancy (google dollars ).

Yea, oriental money, i have a YEN for google. Now, i wonder... what if i went up there and downloaded and shared movies and MP3's how can the MPAA and RIAA catch me??

[m.oreilly]

Nvyseal, on Aug 16 2006, 09:32 PM, said:

Yea, oriental money, i have a YEN for google. Now, i wonder... what if i went up there and downloaded and shared movies and MP3's how can the MPAA and RIAA catch me??

ah ha! there's the rub! google doesn't mind coughing up info to the feds...this may be a 'sperment with new tracking tech...oops, forgot my foil hat