San Francisco's Wi-Fi plans have attracted much attention because it may be the first large city in America to provide free Internet access to all its citizens across its entire 47-square-mile area. Two of the six proposals submitted to the city would offer free access -- the one from the joint forces of Google and EarthLink and one from SF Metro Connect, a collaboration between Cisco Systems, I.B.M. and SeaKay, a non-profit group involved in developing community networks.
In a prepared statement, Donald Berryman, executive vice president of EarthLink and president of the ISP's municipal networks unit, said, "By coming together to leverage the strengths of both companies, we will be able to offer services to different customers on the network that fit with their own individual needs and wants."
According to Dan Greenfield, vice-president of corporate communications at Earthlink, Google would provide free access at about 300 kilobits per seconds. And Earthlink would provide a paid model offering a 1-megabit up and down stream for approximately $20 a month -- a fee that it hopes would support the $15 million cost to build and maintain the system over the next decade.
"We think this is really a unique opportunity for both companies to leverage our strengths and provide customers with two different models of service," Greenfield said.
Google so far has not disclosed its plans for making a monetary return on the free access that would be provided if they won the bid. However, it is generally believed the company would try delivering targeted, paid ads to users to finance the service.
The SF Metro Connect proposal, on the other hand, would provide free access at speeds of at least 1 megabit or higher. The network would be owned by the city, administered by SeaKay, provisioned with Cisco Systems equipment and supported with the assistance of I.B.M.
"The public network will be structured similar to that of Public Broadcasting and will utilize existing available municipal infrastructure only available for use by a public benefit network," Harold Galicer, a principal of SeaKay, explained in their proposal. "This will save millions of dollars in capital and operating costs, dramatically increase overall network speed available to users and allow for rapid deployment of the mesh network."
According to Jennifer Petrucione, a spokeswoman for Mayor Gavin Newsom, a review panel will evaluate the six proposals and make recommendations by early April. After that, the city's Department of Telecommunications and Information Services hopes to enter into negotiations with the winning bidder.
Providing affordable, universal Wi-Fi is the cornerstone of Mayor Newsom's TechConnect initiative that proposes to provide all San Franciscans, especially low-income families and residents of disadvantaged communities, with equal access to the social, educational, and economic opportunities available online.
"Affordable Internet that is accessible to all San Francicscans regardless of geography or income is simply essential -- we must recognize that access to information is a fundamental government service akin to libraries or public schools," said Mayor Newsom in a statement from his office.
As well as the two free access proposals, the city also received proposals from Communication Bridge Global (CBG), MetroFi, NextWLAN and Razortooth Communications.
Earthlink believes that, stacked up against these, its proposal in association with Google stands a good chance. Other municipal wireless project the company has proposed or undertaken in recent months -- none of these with Google -- all have a "different flavor" according to Greenfield. The company has already landed municipal wireless deals in Anaheim, CA, where deployment has started, and Philadelphia, where contract details were just finalized this week. It also has submitted proposals for municipal wireless projects in Minneapolis, Arlington, VA and Portland, Oregon.
"Over the last couple of years, we have been looking at next generation broadband as a way to set up and dip our toe in the water to see what works and what doesn't," Greenfield added. "We certainly have tried things with fixed wireless. We've tried broadband over power line. And we view the municipal Wi-Fi as a natural extension of these other efforts. So we are very confident that we are going to be able to deliver a high quality, cost competitive service to customers at the very least in Philadelphia and Anaheim, and hopefully in San Francisco."
