Free Wi-Fi coverage project: What does Google benefit?

Google will start working with Earthlink to build a Wi-Fi wireless network in San Francisco, allowing people in the city to access the Internet for free. If you want to surf the Web at high speed, they only have to pay the fee of 20 USD / month.

Source: BBC This is the first time Google has publicly acknowledged the company needs assistance in the plan to provide free Wi-Fi network across the city of San Francisco, where hilly terrain is quite difficult for Internet connection is continuous and seamless.

Previously, Google - the number one Internet search engine and EarthLink, a leading Internet service provider, was always in the same position. But right now, it seems that the two sides have passed the truth: cooperating together is more reasonable.

According to the cooperation agreement, EarthLink will be the main employer in this $ 15 million project, including building and maintaining Wi-Fi networks in San Francisco for 10 years. EarthLink can recover a portion of the investment by charging 20 USD / month for those who want to access high-speed Internet (20 times faster than normal dial-up connection). Meanwhile, Google's free Wi-Fi network is only about 5-6 times faster than dial-up connections.

The general package from Google and EarthLink will have to compete with five other contractors, most notably SF Metro Connect, a joint venture between SeaKay, Cisco Systems and IBM. The San Francisco government hopes to select the winning bidder in April, paving the way for the opening of the city-wide Wi-Fi network this year.

Some other major US cities like Chicago and Minneapolis are also shaking hands with the private sector to build Wi-Fi networks, but San Francisco's project is still the most noticeable, because Google has announced it will cover. This whole city 46.5 square miles by free Internet.

If San Francisco chooses Google and EarthLink, it will become the largest city in the US to offer free Wi-Fi as a public service.

The fact that Google is particularly interested in the San Francisco project has led many to argue that the search giant is ambitious to provide free Wi-Fi access throughout the United States in the near future. At that time, people will access the company's search engine more, proportional to the revenue Google receives from advertising.

For its part, Google does not seem to lose anything in the bid in San Francisco. The entire cost for free Wi-Fi access will be financed from advertising. Not only that, Google's indigenous search services (local searching) such as finding restaurants, hotels, gas stations, supermarkets and positioning, leading the way for users will have strong development conditions thanks to Wi network. This wide area WiFi.

Thien Y