San Francisco turns free Wi-Fi into long battle

SAN FRANCISCO — In his October 2004 State of the City address, Mayor Gavin Newsom pledged to "not stop until every San Franciscan has access to free, wireless Internet service."

He forged a plan with Google and EarthLink, under which the companies would build a Wi-Fi network offering two tiers of service: a free, ad-supported one and a faster version without ads for $21.95 a month. They would pay San Francisco to put signal-beaming antennas on its light poles.

But in a city where suspicion of corporate interests hangs as thick as the fog, the plan has met resistance at every turn.

Techies call the free service too slow and are pushing for alternatives. Privacy advocates fret that the Internet companies could track users' every move.

At one of the marathon meetings to debate the proposal, a citizen suggested that Google and EarthLink fork over more money — to supplement the electricity bills of San Franciscans who use their computers more as a result of the free access.

Newsom, board far apart

More than two years later, with Newsom having signed a contract with the Internet providers in January, the Board of Supervisors recently declined to even consider the deal. The board, whose approval is required, decided instead to investigate turning the project into a city-owned public utility.

"We never thought it would be so hard to spend money in a city — or such a hard sell to give something away," EarthLink Vice President Cole Reinwand said.

More than 300 municipalities are planning or operating Wi-Fi service. Los Angeles joined the pack when Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recently announced plans for a citywide Wi-Fi system in 2009.

Most of those cities have escaped the political battles that are plaguing San Francisco.

But many have been bedeviled by technical problems, including those caused by hilly terrain, tall buildings and even interference from garage-door openers.

Seattle has taken another route, opting instead for an initiative to bring fiber optics to the door of every residence and business in the city.

Free wireless has become the populist project of the decade. It's envisioned as a way to bridge the digital divide, boost local economies and improve public services such as police communications.

In April, San Francisco chose its plan from among six. Atlanta-based EarthLink would create a wireless network and charge customers $21.95 a month. Mountain View, Calif.-based Google planned to rent space on the network and offer a slower, ad-supported version for free. Google is considering targeting ads by location, so, for example, someone in Union Square searching the Web for a shoe store might see offers for nearby shops first.

But the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and other advocates raised concerns about EarthLink's privacy policy. They also complained that Google's ability to track the whereabouts of network users could prove irresistible to law enforcement (Google said people worried about such things could sign up using false names).

Additionally, some citizens of this high-tech mecca aren't willing to settle for just any wireless connection, even if it's free.

EarthLink's paid service is about three times faster than Google's free one.

The speed of the free service "is so 1997," said Ralf Muehlen, a software developer.

Not for the elite

The project's backers point out that the service isn't designed for the tech elite as much as for the estimated 30 percent of San Francisco households without Internet connections.

After a dozen community meetings, the sides in January hammered out a contract. EarthLink agreed to discuss with the city any changes in its privacy policy and to share 5 percent of the program's subscription fees with the city's digital-divide program.

Although the contract must be approved by July, the Board of Supervisors has yet to formally consider it. The board is exploring running its own service with fiber-optic cables that run through San Francisco.

"We don't need to give away our city," Supervisor Jake McGoldrick said. "We can do it ourselves."

Not every city's Wi-Fi effort has been greeted with griping. In Anaheim, Calif., EarthLink began offering a paid wireless service last summer and now covers 40 percent of the city, with the rest expected to be operating this fall.

Anaheim has recorded only three complaints, two of which came from people who couldn't get access yet, said city spokesman John Nicoletti.

Even as it awaits a decision in San Francisco, Google has forged ahead with a wireless network in its hometown of Mountain View.

There, one sunny afternoon last week, Red Rock Coffee was packed with people tapping at their laptop keyboards.

Student Daniel Aregai said he appreciated the free access Mountain View provides. But another patron, entrepreneur Mike Simonsen, said cities shouldn't bother, because most areas are already awash in wireless networks.

"Individual businesses like this cafe do a marvelous job themselves," he said.