04
October
2005
|
22:58 PM
America/Los_Angeles

Silicon Valley Watcher proposes free WiFi solution for most of San Francisco. . . and it could be done this afternoon!

By Tom Foremski for SiliconValleyWatcher


Free Wi-Fi.jpgThere has been much chatter about San Francisco's plans to offer WiFi to all its residents and businesses, and Google's offer to set up a city-wide hotspot for free.


Here is my proposal for (nearly) free WiFi solution that could be in place this very afternoon:


I realized we already have much of the infrastructure in place. In virtually any location in the city, I can pick up several WiFi signals from local networks. We just need to persuade people in SF with a wireless router to remove password protection and hang their antenna out the window, or place it by an outside window.


We already have the simple technologies to protect individual PCs/notebooks from being hacked wirelessly, which means we don't need to have closed wireless networks. Instant bridging of the digital gap!


What do you think?