Meraki: More than 100,000 have used WiFi in San Fran

Lynnette Luna — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 01:15:51 -0400

Meraki says more than 100,000 people have used its Free the Net service in San Francisco. The company is using San Francisco as test bed for its ad-hoc network that is formed using shared broadband connections and Meraki's WiFi repeaters that users place in their windows, balconies or roofs. Recently, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said that citywide WiFi will be a reality and that 144,000 residents will be surfing the Web for free by the end of the year at no cost to the city. Meraki is building the network and donating the service. The company expects it will take 15,000 devices to blanket the city with coverage.

For more:
- take a look at VentureBeat

Related stories:
San Fran Mayor says citywide WiFi will be a reality. Meraki story
Cities need to drive WiFi development. WiFi development story

San Fran's Newsom takes WiFi to the voters

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 06:59:55 -0400

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is rallying public support for his long-awaited muni-WiFi project through a measure that will appear on the election ballot in November. The mayor and president of the city's Board of Supervisors, Aaron Peskin, together put forward a measure to make official the city's policy to deploy a free muni-WiFi network via a public-private partnership that includes privacy protection. Voter approval isn't necessary for the network to be constructed, but since the plan has been derailed and opposed by other city leaders, it would give Newsom some backing.

Newsom's administration has an agreement with EarthLink and Google to build and operate the network, but EarthLink recently said it was re-evaluating its muni-WiFi strategy. The ISP has asked the city's board of supervisors to delay a vote until at least September. EarthLink CEO Roll Huff recently said that his company's muni-WiFi strategy isn't working. To make sure EarthLink gets a return on its investment, he wants "municipal government to step up and become a meaningful anchor tenant on completion of a build." We'll likely see EarthLink pull out of this.

For more about the November ballot initiative:
- read this article from The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)