Google & Earthlink have trouble giving away free Wi-Fi

, Los Angeles Times: Bad reception for free Wi-Fi
Iconoclastic, tech-savvy San Franciscans don't buy into a plan to offer wireless Internet access.
By Michelle Quinn and James S. Granelli, Times Staff WritersFebruary 19, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO — In Los Angeles, officials want to blanket the city with wireless Internet access that's affordable to the masses. But their counterparts here can't even give it away.In his October 2004 State of the City address, Mayor Gavin Newsom pledged that his administration would "not stop until every San Franciscan has access to free wireless Internet service."Newsom forged a plan with Google Inc. and EarthLink Inc., under which the companies would build a Wi-Fi network offering two tiers of service: a free one, plastered with online advertisements, and a faster version without ads for $21.95 a month. They would pay San Francisco to put signal-beaming antennas on its light poles.But in a city where suspicion of corporate interests flows as thick as the fog, the plan is meeting resistance at every turn.Dissecting every bit and byte, techies call the free service too slow and are pushing for alternatives. Privacy advocates fret that the Internet companies could track users' every move.At one of the marathon meetings to debate the proposal, a citizen suggested that Google and EarthLink fork over more money — to supplement the electricity bills of San Franciscans who use their computers more as a result of the free access. Another suggested that Google use its vehicles to shuttle children to the local zoo.More than two years later, the project hasn't gotten off the ground. Newsom signed a contract with the Internet providers in January. But the Board of Supervisors, whose approval is required, last week declined even to consider the deal, deciding instead to investigate turning the project into a city-owned public utility.

Isn't it remarkable how corporate altruism can get torpedoed by municipal bureaucracy, techno-snobbery, and fuzzy-thinking paranoia from people who don't understand the fundamentals of what's on the table?

I call it the coalition of the unknowing.

This really underlines the reality of how large infrastructure projects that involve multiple interested parties really are like trying to herd cats.

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