

Google to bring free Wi-Fi to New York City - bretthellman
http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/08/technology/mobile/google-wifi/index.html

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comicjk
The title of the article is horribly misleading. The coverage area is thirteen
blocks. That's maybe 1/3 of Chelsea.

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chaz
It appears to me that Google is simply sponsoring the deployment, and did not
build and will not actively manage the installation. According to the coverage
map [1], technical support is provided by Sky Packets, a company that plans,
builds, and maintains wifi networks in municipalities. Also, the Chelsea
Improvement Company's webpage [2] says: "Google's sponsorship paid for the
capital cost of the network."

[1]
[http://www.chelseaimprovement.com/static/pdfs/wifi/CIC_Free_...](http://www.chelseaimprovement.com/static/pdfs/wifi/CIC_Free_WiFi.pdf)

[2]
[http://www.chelseaimprovement.com/neighborhood/free_wifi.htm...](http://www.chelseaimprovement.com/neighborhood/free_wifi.html)

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ck2
Not only is it just 13 blocks around that Google HQ, they somehow got a local
group to pay 1/3rd of what looks like a very jacked up pricetag.

$45k a year to operate 13 blocks of wifi? Really?

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imaginator
IMHO that pricetag is very good. Consider backhaul costs, upgrades and other
maintenance, monitoring, etc. All covered by about the equivalent of a 1/4 NY
sysadmin salary.

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mpeg
Not sure if everyone has ridiculously high salaries in the US, or HN people
always exaggerate.

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whatusername
If it was a fully loaded cost (ie - what the employer pays not what the
employee receives) then I can believe it in a place like NYC

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netcan
$180k?

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sebastianmarr
I suppose 'free' also means 'unencrpyted'. Let's hope everyone has https
enabled on their Facebook account.

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btn
If it's like their Mountain View coverage, there'll be a secure (WPA) option.

