SAN FRANCISCO—Mayor Edwin Lee announced on Monday, December 16 that free municipal wireless Internet access (Wi-Fi) service would now be available to citizens along Market Street, one of the area’s busiest and diverse corridors, according to a press release from the Mayor’s website.
The service will begin in the Castro neighborhood and end at The Embarcadero near the entire Market Street corridor. Anyone with a smart phone, laptop or wireless enabled mobile device will have access to the Internet.
“Nearly a quarter-million people walk down Market Street every day, and now they will be able to connect to the Internet through our free public Wi-Fi,” said Mayor Lee. “Providing Wi-Fi on our City’s main busy thoroughfare is a big first step towards a larger vision of connectivity for our City as a whole, bridging the digital divide and ensuring that our diverse communities have access to innovation.”
The Department of Technology (DT) is responsible for developing the advertisement for the free Wi-Fi service. A public-private partnership between Ruckus Wireless (who donated the hardware) and Layer42 Networks (a provider of connectivity and data center hosting solutions) helped in making the service available to all residents. Layer42 Networks also donated one gigabyte of internet service making it possible for the Market Street network accessible to the public.
“The speed we provide on upload and download as well as the friendly user experience with no ads and no strings attached reflects the spirit of San Franciscans,” DT Director and Chief Information Officer Marc Touitou. “Whether it’s accessing a bus schedule or finding a bargain at a local store, this network will do wonders for improving the quality of life for our residents while also accommodating our visitors who contribute to our local economy.”
“As a proud San Francisco Bay Area based company, we are excited about this opportunity to partner with the City to provide technology resources that gives ubiquitous access to everyone on a wireless network,” said Ruckus Wireless President and Chief Executive Officer Selina Lo. “This project reflects a shared vision and understanding that reliable wireless connectivity is now viewed as a utility that has become as nearly as essential as power.”
The city has launched the new website, www.sfgov.org/sanfranciscowifi to provide a tutorial for residents on how to connect to the Wi-Fi network. The site also bullets a mapping showing the various access points for service on Market Street.
The city currently has more than 130 miles of fiber optic cable beneath its streets that provide high-speed Internet to most of the city’s municipal buildings, neighborhood firehouses, police stations, recreational facilities, science facilities like The Exploratorium, San Francisco State University and San Francisco City College.
“In July, Mayor Lee and Supervisor Mark Farrell in partnership with Google announced plans to install free Wi-Fi for the general public at 31 parks, plazas and open spaces acrossSan Francisco, including at Civic Center Plaza and Union Square. The installation of free wireless internet service in City parks will begin in Spring 2014, and all 31 sites are expected to be fully completed and ready for use by San Francisco’s residents and visitors by Summer 2014,” states the press release.
By LaDale Anderson
