Free citywide Wi-Fi coming to Milpitas, California
Milpitas is negotiating an agreement with a non-profit organization to bring free citywide Wi-Fi service covering 10 square miles with a potential 7000 users per month. The organization called Silicon Valley Unwired will include Google, I-Net Solutions, the city of Milpitas, and several wireless manufacturers. EarthLink had deployed a network in Milpitas but terminated service after the company closed down its municipal wireless business. The wireless nodes, however, remain mounted on city property. As a result, the new network operator can simply take over the wireless equipment. They may, however, have to add more wireless nodes to improve the service.
After EarthLink abandoned the network, the city acquired it for $800,000 and planned to use it only for municipal purposes. Last June, however, Milpitas issued a public tender seeking providers to take over the network. Two responded: Veraloft and I-Net Solutions. I-Net is now part of the non-profit and its role is to provide technical support. Google has a network running in Mountain View which claims to have 15,000 users per month.
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Just wanted to clarify the information in your article, the City of Milpitas did not pay Earthlink for the WiFi network. The network was given to the City at no cost
Bill Marion
Information Services Director
City of Milpitas