Google wants to use Mountain View as a test ground for Wi-Fi connectivity

Search engine giant Google has said that they want to use the city of Mountain View as a test base to prove that giving people wireless Internet connections on a large scale is a good idea socially and financially. Google said in a statement through their product manager Minnie Ingersoll: “We believe that free (or very cheap) Internet access is a key to bridging the digital divide. In our self-interest, we believe that giving more people the ability to access the Internet will drive more traffic to Google and hence more revenue to Google.”

He added: “We are committed to showing the world that this technology works and we would like to learn more about the costs of operations so that we can build a well-informed business model.” They had recently proposed to install wireless Internet, or WiFi, network in Mountain View, home of its corporate headquarters, for free, by the end of June. They had an offer similar to this for the city of San Francisco who have yet not decided as well.

Google plans to convert the city of Mountain View which covers 12 square miles and has 72,000 residents, into one big WiFi “hotspot”. A network of 300 to 400 transmitters would be installed atop the city’s streetlight poles. Anyone within a three-block radius of a transmitter would be able to log on to the Internet, provided their computer or phone is designed to pick up Wi-Fi signals. They expect that the people should get average speeds beginning at 300 kilobits per second, which is comparable to a DSL connection.