If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to bring a laptop.
The Californian city of hills and trolleys wants wireless access for all.
And a host of bidders have lined up to turn the city and surrounding San Francisco county into a WiFi hotbed. San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom currently has 26 offers on his desk, from companies including Earthlink Inc., Cingular Wireless and the powerful online search engine Google Inc.
San Francisco is not the only metro area rolling out free web access to its citizens. Internet service provider Earthlink will pay out $10 million to cover Philadelphia with WiFi.
“San Fransicso is not that unique these days,” said Ellen Daley, an analyst with Cambridge-based Forrester Research. “About 90 cities are looking to employ wireless broadband,” she added.
So where does Boston figure in this wireless revolution?
The city hasn’t been silent on the issue of the “digital divide,” but it hasn’t been very loud either.
Boston’s plan for free wireless access appears to be slow and steady implementation through individual neighborhood business districts, including Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park and Washington Gateway.
“I think it’s a very smart way for the city to learn about wireless before going and blanketing the city,” said Brian Goodman, manager of Boston Main Streets’ WiFi initiative.
Still, that method doesn’t provide cheap or free access directly to residents the way it will in Philadelphia or San Francisco.
“I don’t know if (the city) wants to get into the utility business,” said John Tobin, Boston city councilor for District-6 and a major advocate for WiFi.
Back in May, city officials, advocates and philanthropists were spending money on research and hosting community meetings to discuss bringing affordable wireless to the Hub.
At a wireless summit, Mayor Thomas M. Menino praised the launch of free WiFi in Roslindale’s business district, adding that another hotspot was set for the following week in West Roxbury. Just over four months later, Boston Main Streets is expecting to take off in West Roxbury within a couple of weeks.
Without a Google firmly planted in Boston soil, the idea of the city getting its hands on major corporate cash seems unlikely.
“The problem here in Boston is you don’t have this kind of hometown hero. There’s not going to be one single player that ponies up” the cash for setting up and maintaing a network, said Michael Oh, president of Tech Superpowers Inc., which provides free wireless for businesses along Newbury Street. Oh is a co-founder of the Boston Wireless Advocacy Group.
Oh suggested companies trying to establish a presence in the city, like Bank of America and TD Banknorth, might be wise to make the investment.
“Go to someone like Procter & Gamble and say: `Hey, you’re taking all these jobs away, why not give us a few million dollars (for a WiFi network)?”’ he said.But Daley said a Google-style network, which would make cash for the company through advertising, is a new and unproven method of access.
“If the movitation of the city is really to provide low-income residents with wireless access, there are other ways to do that,” she said, adding negotiating with local Internet providers for cheap DSL could be a good way to go.
The city does have some sponsors backing its wireless efforts.
New England-based tech companies Ascio Wireless, Colubris Networks, Community Wisp, Single Digits, Boston Data Centers and Sunnyvale, CA-based Tropos Networks are all supplying money and time to Boston Main Streets neighborhood-by-neighborhood program.
For now, wireless in Boston is less a revolution than it is a slow movement, and unless a major sponsor steps up, Bostonians will have to settle for spotty networks.
“If there is a provider out there, then obviously we’re all ears,” Tobin said.
