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Google Plans to Offer Free WiFi in San Francisco

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the google-google-everywhere dept.

jacksonwest writes "What's been rumored for some time has now been confirmed -- Google has made a bid in response to Mayor Gavin Newsom's request for information. The details of the bid include citywide access, for free, at 300kbps. The plans dovetail into their location-based advertising and services strategy, and come on the heels of their recent VPN service rollout."

3 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. They're in for it now by metternich · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Big telecoms have a lot of political influence. Watch this to be denounced as unfair competition, Communist, unamerican, etc. Followed by FCC rules or laws prohibiting it.

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    Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
  2. location-based advertising and services by spectrokid · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Every wifi access point has its unique code. When you browse, you get a commercial for the shop lying just around the corner. They don't need to inspect your traffic, they know (+/-) where you are. Smart, damn smart...

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    10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then

  3. port 80 restrictions? by matt+me · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I hope Google would be better, but does anyone know if they plan to restrict access to port 80 only, like some other "free" (strange definition) wi-fi. That would mean the only internet applications that work would be web browsers. You wouldn't be able to send/check email, unless, you were using a webmail service, such as... GMail! Similarly, IM, p2p and everything else that isn't on :80, although many apps can get through firewalls, they lose speed.