RSSGoogle Offers Free Wi-Fi in Hometown
By Ed Oswald | Published August 16, 2006, 1:30 PM
Google on Wednesday rolled out its free wireless Internet service in its hometown of Mountain View, Calif., covering 11.5 square miles of the city with some 380 access points. A 1Mbit per second connection would be provided to each user, who would be able to use the network by signing up for a free Google account.
"This network is a way for us to give back to and engage with the community where our headquarters are," product manager Minnie Ingersoll said. "It has been has been tremendously rewarding to partner with the local government, the schools, the library, the neighborhood associations, and all of our trusted testers to introduce the power of free, wireless Internet connectivity to the city."
If demand is high enough for more speed, Google said it would explore increasing bandwidth. The company has tested speeds of up to eight megabits per second according to press reports.
The project is the first to go live for Google, although it has partnered with EarthLink to provide a similar service in the city of San Francisco. However, Google executives have quashed rumors that the company may be ready to make a push to offer Wi-Fi nationwide.
In an interview with the New York Times, special initiatives head Chris Sacca told the paper that such rumors were unfounded. The projects in Mountain View and San Franscisco will be used as test beds for new Google efforts, as well as showing the value of providing wireless Internet access on a broad scale.
Other than the San Francisco contract, Google has not made bids to run any of the other 300 or so city Wi-Fi projects currently underway nationwide.
Ingersoll echoed these beliefs. "We think successful mesh wireless deployments will promote competition, create cheaper access alternatives, and foster open, standards-compliant platforms for content and service providers to showcase their applications without the hassle of the traditional walled-garden approach," she said.
Originally the internet was a dream of democratization. It has, to a large degree, become a platform for hucksters and scammers. Any step that brings it back to the realm of the people is to be applauded. May the dream revive!
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|Google seems to forget that it's now a publically held corporation with responsibilities to the shareholders. The money they invested in this project is that of individuals, people like you and me who invest. As a "for profit entity" with responsibilities to the shareholder this is a complete waste of resources and just increases the expenses.
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|Who's to say google isn't making money off of this. This may push people to use GMail and their other programs. Maybe Google is monitoring where people are going and using that data. Understanding where and when people surf the net can be valuable information worth more than the expense of the free internet.
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|Wrong. Google is an advocate of working from home. I understand this WiFi network was originally planned for the use of Google employees. If it makes them more productive, that's GREAT for shareholders -- and without much extra effort Google creates a public service in the process.
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|that would be crazy if there was nationwide free wireless internet.. isps would drop like flies
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|The only real problem with wi-fi spread across cities is essentially creating less of a need for ISP's. Anything is better than dialup and people love to get things for free. The biggest danger in it is those that refuse to learn about computers or anything remotely close to safe surfing.
On the other hand, it is kinda cool for a city to offer such things to it's citizens.
Ultimately, I'm not convinced that anyone at any level could treat this kinda thing responsibly.
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|How does one "treat this kinda thing" irresponsibly?
And if you refer to individuals employing such security measures as 802.11i-AES and SSL or IPSec VPNs, that is THEIR problem, not "this kinda thing's" responsibility!
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|Nice if you can get it...
I just hope folks are smart enough to run 802.11i-AES instead of WEP or WPA.
Now what would really excite me is widespread free access via Wi-Max! ;-)
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|Smartness hardly has anything to do with it. If your equipment doesn't have the option, then you can't use it.
For example, according to the net "The bad news is that AES has to have its own coprocessor, which means older existing wireless hardware can’t just be upgraded via software as with the transition to WPA; instead, it will have to be replaced. Hardware purchased in late 2003 and 2004 may be upgradeable via software or firmware to support 802.11i."
I purchased my *new* router at the end of 2005 - no 802.11i-AES options and no firmware updates seem to be planned. The physical hardware was only made in August 2005. So, it would seem that many people are likely to be caught out like this, with their only option to update their hardware.
For myself, WEP and not broadcasting a SSID is sufficient as people will use all the other non-protected WLANs in the vicinity.
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|I didn't know there was anything wrong with WPA. I heard WEP has been hacked but I heard WPA was still secure.
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|WPA has definately been hacked for awhile now.
Here is a good article describing how to do it and providing a bit more information than most:
http://www.informit.com/...e.asp?p=369221&rl=1
Most of the 802.11i-AES compliant hardware began trickling out in the fall of 2004 in the commercial spaces as opposed to the consumer level. And with the glut of inventory on the shelves, noone in the consumer retail space has been quick to render their current stock obsolete with allot of noise regarding 802.11i-AES.
But there is real impetus in areas requiring secure acess and complaiancy with standards such as SOX, HIPAA, FISMA, and ISO17799.
Likewise, if you have been using an IPSec based VPN, you might want to explore the emergence of newer lower cost SSL based VPNs that provide granular access control to PARTICULAR resources - from the file level up - after entering beyond the firewall, as opposed to the 'you have the keys to the city' lack of resource access control offered by IPSEC - as once you are past the firewall, you have access to anything that you can get into! But I guess it all depends upon your perspective, and whether you are an admin responsible and held accountable for unauthorized access to resources, or if you are the visitor! :-)
Oh, and regarding the hardware, WPA provided a firmware bandaid to WEP in the form of TKIP while still using the same hardware and RC4 cypher primative that was improperly implemented from inception! WPA was a bandaid attempt to salvage the fatally flawed WEP.
AES does require a more robust processor than WEP, but the actual manufacturing cost is the same. It simply requires new hardware! So you can buy the still available 'old' stuff, or you can do a little research and insure that your newer wireless card/router is compliant. Its simple in concept, but I dare anyone to walk into a Circus City or a Best-of-Luck and ask if they have any IEEE802.11i-AES compliant wireless routers!!! Be prepared for lots of blank looks and a wizard who will walk up and tell you to get a b/g router! :O :-S :)) :)) :)) :))
You use WEP and WPA at your peril. In doing pen testing, it is relatively easy to get into either, it is just a matter of if you are willing to spend the extra 15-30 minutes getting into WPA as opposed to the truly trivial procedure for hacking WEP!
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