Google Giving Dolores Park Free Wifi

In an effort to help “bridge the digital divide” and make it easier to check the Yelp reviews of local drug dealers, Google is sponsoring the installation of free wifi in 31 city parks, including the notorious cell phone dead zone of Dolores Park.  SFGate reports:

Supervisor Mark Farrell and Google will announce a plan Wednesday to bring public wireless Internet access, on the technology company's dime, to parks, recreation centers and plazas across San Francisco. The $600,000 gift from Google will cover the costs of the equipment, installation and maintenance of wireless capabilities for two years.

It will allow residents to work from Mission Dolores Park, let visitors download information to their mobile devices in Civic Center Plaza and make it easier for parents to sign their children up for recreation programs at centers from the Excelsior district to Bernal Heights, Chinatown, the Marina and the Sunset District.

Well, I guess that just killed off the market for Dolo?

[SFGate | Photo by Denise Collier]

Comments (12)

Another reason to avoid Dolores Park.

This opens up some interesting new telecommuting opportunities.

WiFi in Dolores Park + Sunny afternoon = slow to non-existent choked WiFi in Dolores Park. Yawn.

Blasting our skulls and nuking our DNA with more waves than humans have ever endured.

More than the sun? Holy shit, you must have quite the wifi router!

You are a crazy person.

But I’m handsome. Dangerously handsome.

“Hey you! Yeah, you there, enjoying a beautiful day in the park with your friends. We couldn’t help but notice that you checking your phones every 30 seconds wasn’t enough of a distraction from forming real connections with other humans, so we are now making it possible for you to use your laptops and pads to surf the web to your heart’s—and battery’s—content! Go now; run along you little socially(sans network) inept humanoid.”

Google has only payed for two years of free WiFi, the article states.

After 2yrs you will have to login, and pay, by the hour or day.
This is exactly what has happened in other cities, it’s free for the first one or two years, then the funding for it stops, and you will have to login and pay.

It’s good advertising for Google’s pay and play, wifi in the park, clever.

Mark my words,
Herry Balzack

Well, to be clear, after two years you will NOT “have to login, and pay, by the hour or day.”

You can choose to just go back to not using the service. Nobody is being FORCED to use the WiFi. I don’t really see the downside here. It doesn’t take up any physical space, doesn’t hurt anyone (despite what the tin-foil hat set think), etc. I guess you could make an argument that it is using a little bit of electricity that would otherwise not be used, but that is just kind of silly.

I never said anyone would be forced to use it. S
pend some time off the internet, and the comments section. Do the world a favor and set fire to your computer.

Uh, actually you did: “After 2yrs you will have to login, and pay, by the hour or day.”

Thanks for playing, though.