Tired of slow Internet speeds, high costs and few choices in
providers, Americans have been eagerly watching for any hints that Google would
expand its fiber offering to their hometowns.
That company announced on Tuesday that it will provide free Wi-Fi
service to Chelsea, a neighborhood of New York City, where Google has its local
headquarters.
The
company recently brought high-speed fiber-optic Internet coverage to the Kansas
City area, capable of download speeds up to 1 Gigabit per second. That's about
200 times faster than your average home broadband connection.
Google's Wi-Fi has impressive speeds of its own -- about 5
to 10 Megabits per second, or around the same as a typical home Internet
connection.
Google said it cost just $115,000 to get all the
technology installed for the venture, which carries a $45,000 annual
maintenance cost.
Google said it faced geographic and technological challenges
in building the network, including the problem of sending signals across a wide
area with very tall buildings in the way.
Google has offered Wi-Fi to certain areas before and it has
been providing with free Wi-Fi for several years. It also teamed up with Wi-Fi
providers like Boingo Wireless (WIFI) on a temporary basis to provide service
to some New York subway stations, airports and other areas.
