The free Wi-Fi network that has launched in San Francisco’s Market Street will be free to all, users won’t have to sign in to use it and it will be free of adverts.
According to pcadvisor.co.uk, Ruckus Wireless has helped make the scheme a reality by donating more than 150 of its outdoor access points and network controllers. It has also helped the city install them, by mounting the Wi-Fi equipment onto objects such as traffic light poles.
This saves San Francisco money as the city doesn’t have to rent space inside public buildings. In total, the network will cost the city around $500,000.
Mayor Ed Lee explained why Market Street was chosen as the location for the hotspots. “A quarter of a million people traverse Market Street every day, from all walks of life,” he said.
“Now they can access information, find out when their next bus is coming, or peruse local job listings, all for free. This is a significant first step in my vision of connectivity for our city,” he adds, reports sfgate.com.
As well as allowing tourists, residents and businesspeople to have access to the internet whilst in the Market Street area, the network could also prove useful to mobile operators. Market Street, although well covered by cell phone networks, is overrun with mobile devices. Operators could look to offload traffic from their own frequencies to the new public Wi-Fi network.
