The search advertising company lit up its freely available WiFi network for its home city of Mountain View, CA, for citizens to try.
Google WiFi product manager Minnie Ingersoll posted the story to the Official Google Blog today to commemorate the debut:
Mountain View users can select the “GoogleWiFi” signal, open their web browser and sign in with a free Google Account. To learn more about the network’s coverage area and the location of the WiFi radios, we’ve published a map.
Ingersoll also wrote that the project represented a way for the company to “give back and engage” with its community. Google has partnered with a variety of government agencies and other associations as it deployed the WiFi radios on lampposts all over the city.
As Googling Google blogger Garett Rogers noted on his site, Google is repeating the mantra that it has no plans to roll out a nationwide wireless service. He also cited commentary on the service’s associated discussion group that indoor access and email have been issues for some users.
GigaOm’s Om Malik covered the opening of the service as well. He noted that one of his writers was able to make VoIP calls via Skype and SIP over the network without difficulty.
That could be a little disturbing to telecoms and cable companies that offer VoIP services. If Google were to ever go national with its wireless network, and there is no reason to rule that out completely today, all it would take are a few million inexpensive Skype-capable mobile devices in the market place to really hammer the bottom line at a lot of telco, cable, and VoIP businesses.
—
Tag:
Add to 
Bookmark Murdok: 
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
