Silicon Valley to get public Wi-Fi network 38 Cities to Be Covered

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Looping together cities stretching from Daly City to Santa Cruz, Silicon Valley is on the verge of creating the country's largest public wireless Internet network that will serve as many as 2.4 million people in 38 cities in four counties and cover nearly 1,500 square miles.

All cities in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties are participating in the Wireless Silicon Valley Project that on Tuesday picked Silicon Valley Metro Connect, a collaboration of Azulstar Networks, Cisco Systems, IBM and Seakay, to build and operate the wireless network in the world's most wired place, said Brian Moura, assistant city manager of San Carlos and co-chairman of the project.

Users would be able to access the Internet wirelessly from their computers, cellular phones or PDAs anywhere outside, from city parks to their cars. Because the service is designed for the outdoors, customers will likely have to buy a device that costs $80 to $120 to use the wireless network indoors.

We expect more areas of the country to be doing this.