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Google WiFi+VPN Confirmed

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the only-a-matter-of-time dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Google is actually (confirmed!) rolling out their wifi network, first in the San Francisco bay area (see the FAQ for details.) They are also including a Secure Access program for use in conjunction with this. So far, as per usual, it's in beta, and only for the San Fran bay area. Soon the entire US, perhaps??"

3 of 320 comments (clear)

  1. This isn't hardware by daves · · Score: 5, Informative

    To those commenting on how hard this is...

    The announcement is not about rolling out hotspots. They are just providing an easy-to-set-up VPN connection using downloadable client software. Extending it to the rest of the country would just require distributed VPN host nodes.

    --
    People who disagree with you are not automatically evil, greedy, or stupid.
  2. This isn't an ISP it's a VPN client. by Mustang+Matt · · Score: 5, Informative

    It is a VPN client.

    You download the software and it creates a VPN to vpn.google.com. It doesn't even have anything to do with wireless other than using this with wireless allows you to encrypt all your traffic on each end instead of with weak WEP or otherwise.

    I just downloaded the client and just using my normal network card in my PC I was able to successfully connect to google and an ipconfig reveals a second connection:

    PPP adapter vpn.google.com:
    Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
    Description : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface
    Physical Address : 00-53-45-00-00-00
    Dhcp Enabled : No
    IP Address : 192.168.201.8
    Subnet Mask : 255.255.255.255
    Default Gateway : 192.168.201.8
    DNS Servers : 66.51.205.100 66.51.206.100

    I only hope they'll create a server version too and give it out. I must say there was zero configuration and a monkey could have installed it. If they release a server version and allow a small amount of configuration this could come in handy.

    I guess one side effect is that I should be able to anonymously browse the web through google.

    Consequently, they must be having DNS issues or something of that nature because nothing seemed to resolve while connected.

    --
    The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
  3. Re:Money? by limber · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's an article in the current issue of Business 2.0 that speculates as to the business model.

    http://www.business2.com/b2/web/articles/0,17863,1 093558,00.html

    Part of it is not a revenue generation thing so much as a cost savings. Google has been buying up a lot of dark fibre... They're trying to eliminate a middleman for IP transit fees. "Millions of dollars per month in savings" etc.