Marketing Pilgrim

Unlike a lot of people I speak to, I’m not a big fan of San Francisco and so have never been compelled to be out in the “Bay”.

Google and Earthlink just came up with one reason worth the move, FREE Wi-Fi for the entire San Francisco area! The two companies won a joint bid to provide the city with free wireless.

According to ClickZ…

Under the companies’ plan, Google’s 300 Kbps “basic access” service will be free and ad-supported, while Earthlink will offer a paid 1 Mbps connection for around $20 a month.

Ads from Google will appear on the network’s capture portal, typically the first page users see when they log onto a third-party Wi-Fi network. In its proposal, the Mountain View company said it would market those placements to small Bay area businesses.

Google’s keeping quiet on exactly how they intend to display the ads (and how many), but I guess we’ll learn by the end of the year, when the project is scheduled for completion.

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