# Silicon Valley: 3,900 sq. KM WiFi plan moves ahead



## Silicon Francisco (Apr 29, 2006)

This project by _Silicon Valley Metro Connect_, a group anchored by homegrown Cisco Systems along with IBM is set to cover 42 cities in the area. Mountainview (a tiny city here that contains NASA Ames research center and Google HQ) has had free WiFi provided by... Google of all folks. When San Francisco completes it's free WiFi there should be about 4,500 square kilometers of coverage for the San Francisco Bay Area, which would be a halfway covered metropolis (8,900 sq. kilometers). For comparisson, WiFly is covering 90% of the 272 sq. kilometer Taipei, but I don't know how much is being covered right now or how big the coverage is, or how many networks are covering for how much.




> Silicon Valley's wireless network project moves forward
> Associated Press
> 
> SAN JOSE, Calif. - A proposal to blanket 1,500 square miles of Silicon Valley with affordable wireless access to the Internet stepped closer to reality Tuesday after a joint task force selected Silicon Valley Metro Connect to build and operate the network.
> ...


 



> SAN JOSE, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- September 05, 2006 -- Silicon Valley Metro Connect, a collaboration among Azulstar Networks, Cisco Systems, IBM (NYSE: IBM), and Seakay, has been selected to build and operate Silicon Valley's regional wireless network that will serve 2.4 million people.
> 
> The open wireless network will offer universal broadband wireless Internet access to all Silicon Valley residents, employees and visitors spanning 42 municipalities and nearly 1,500 square miles. Many Silicon Valley residents will have the opportunity to experience the Internet at higher speeds than ever before due to either cost or availability. Beyond providing wireless access to the general public, the network will also be capable of supporting a broad range of uses by residential, small business, public sector and commercial users.
> 
> ...


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