Google/Earthlink Wifi Deal Basically Dead

Earthlink, Google’s partner in its plan to bring free wireless internet access to San Francisco, has announced it is dropping out of the plans, effectively killing the deal. Earthlink, seeing little or no success in other cities and an unbelievable amount of stupidity in SF politics, decided it just wasn’t worth it anymore. Earthlink, under a new CEO who doesn’t seem to think much of the municipal wifi business, seems to be pulling out of wifi for good.
It is an amazing indictment of the awfulness of San Francisco politics that this didn’t happen.
Earthlink and Google Inc. beat out five other contractors who bid last year on the contract to create a citywide wireless network here. Like Philadelphia, Chicago and several other cities, San Francisco has been competing to become the first large U.S. city to make the Internet available throughout its borders.
Under the four-year agreement, which was never […]

Original post by Nathan Weinberg