SF TechConnect WiFi Franchise: Google wishes they never got into WiFi

[Kimo Crossman]

http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=16991
<http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=16991&hed=Google%E2%80%99s+Tangled
+Wireless+Push§or=Industries&subsector=InternetAndServices>
&hed=Google%E2%80%99s+Tangled+Wireless+Push§or=Industries&subsector=Internet
AndServices
Google’s Tangled Wireless Push


Exec dishes on challenges search giant faces in its plan to unwire two
California cities.
May 24, 2006

Chris Sacca, Google’s municipal Wi-Fi champion, has been spending a lot of
time outside the comforts of the geeky Googleplex recently negotiating the
often-frustrating world of city politics. And it hasn’t always gone
smoothly.

 For example, at a public meeting in Google’s hometown of Mountain View,
California, an angry elderly gentleman took a swing at Mr. Sacca after
claiming Wi-Fi hardware had negative effects on health.


“When you put a box in someone’s neighborhood, it really changes the game,”
Mr. Sacca said after a panel discussion at the Red Herring Spring conference
in Monterey, California, on Wednesday. As a result, he said Google has to be
very nimble when trying to alter public perception.

But the company has more than just a public relations campaign on its hands.
The search giant also has the mighty tasks of building and running wireless
networks.

In April, Google and EarthLink won a bid to build a wireless network for San
Francisco, and Google plans a similar network in Mountain View

A driving factor for the Mountain View project, explained Mr. Sacca, is the
prospect of Google engineers using the network at home, potentially to
create more useful applications.

However, building infrastructure and acting as a service provider isn’t
something with which Google has much experience. “It’s a process of
learning. There are a lot of things that we wish we knew six months ago,”
said Mr. Sacca, who is the company’s head of special initiatives.

Obstacles Ahead

Already Google is facing hurdles in the slow-moving, very political process
of building what some perceive as a public service.

To start with, Google’s local advertising revenue from the network won’t
come anywhere close to the estimated $15 million in infrastructure costs,
said Mr. Sacca. That’s because neither the technology nor business model is
yet in place to start driving a location-based advertising economy around
local businesses.

“These networks aren’t even close to repaying themselves. Revenues from an
ad-based model are at least two years away,” he said.

First Google must overcome the layers of bureaucracy surrounding city
politics and the real-world intricacies of building a citywide network. The
search giant, which prides itself on its “bottom-up” innovation process and
flexible approach to development, now has to contend with hiring union
workers for network construction and attending endless meetings with public
committees and review boards.

(if they don't want to use city property to cheaply roll out their network,
then they wouldn't have to deal with these issues - like solving the Digital
Divide etc - kimo)

Mr. Sacca sees common complaints about the Google Wi-Fi projects as alarmist
concerns, and has a firm response to each of them. For example, he argued
that the radiation from access points on light posts is nothing compared to
what’s emanating from the cell phone in your pocket.

He also downplayed concerns about user privacy. The amount of personal
information—a user name and password—required under the San Francisco plan
is far less than that demanded by a cable provider or a mobile carrier, he
noted.

(Why is login required at all for the Free network? - kimo)

Light at the End

But amid all the repetitious questions and headaches, Mr. Sacca thinks
helping wireless broadband access become cheaper and more ubiquitous is
worth it.

“There’s been a barrier to cheap wireless broadband,” he said, referring
specifically to moves by the cable and phone incumbents to protect their
franchises. “Our goal is to help with that.”

(Google isn't doing this out of the goodness of their heart to break those
franchises - kimo)

Mr. Sacca reiterated that Google has no plans to move beyond the two San
Francisco Bay Area networks. If the company had ever entertained such
thoughts, nine months’ worth of rolling with the punches must have changed
its mind.

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