Subject: [PA-ComNet]Free wireless Internet offered in Palo Alto

From: Jeff Hoel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 14:52:20 -0800 (PST)

Here's an article about free wireless in downtown Palo Alto.

Jeff

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<http://daily.stanford.edu/tempo?page=content&id=16430&repository=0001_article>

Free wireless Internet offered in Palo Alto

By Katie Bearman 
Contributing Writer 
Friday, March 4, 2005 
last updated March 7, 2005 2:24 AM

Students who want to use free wireless Internet over dessert at the
Cheesecake Factory or over lattes at the University Cafe are in luck.
On Tuesday, AnchorFree Wireless, a Sunnyvale-based wireless Internet
provider, decided to make wireless Web access free on University Avenue.
Now anyone can access the Internet in all stores, restaurants and outdoor
areas within what AnchorFree has designated the Palo Alto Hotzone — the
section of University Avenue extending from Middlefield Road to High
Street.

“You can walk from one establishment to another and always be online,”
said David Gorodyansky, president of AnchorFree.

Wireless in the “hotzone” has been available through AnchorFree since
May, but until Tuesday the company had been charging about $5 per month
for the service.

According to Denis Hiller, communications director for AnchorFree, the
company has only announced its decisions to clients who used the
company’s service before the change but will make a public announcement
soon.

Gorodyansky said that while AnchorFree is now providing free wireless,
other Internet providers will also continue serving the hotzone. Web
users can view and choose between multiple wireless connections that are
available when they open their laptops, he said.

He added that students and businessmen can also pay for Web access under
plans sponsored by specific locations. For example, the Starbucks on
University Avenue offers T-Mobile wireless for prepaid monthly or hourly
rates. Managers at Starbucks could not be reached for comment on whether
they will continue charging for wireless.

According to Hiller, feedback from Stanford students played a significant
role in AnchorFree’s decision to make service free. The company’s
officers came across an article that appeared last May in The Stanford
Daily in which students implied that although the availability of
wireless access on University Avenue is convenient, they would not be
willing to pay the monthly service charge.

“It became really clear to us that we had to do this when The Daily
article came out,” Hiller said. “It really sent a strong message to us
that students will use wireless more than anyone but that doesn’t mean
they’ll pay to use it.”

But the high demand for free wireless capabilities is not limited to
students.

“People want a place to use the Internet wirelessly outside their homes,
schools and offices, and want to have some money leftover in their
wallets,” Hiller said.

In his State of the City Address last year, San Francisco Mayor Gavin
Newsom said that providing free wireless Internet to all of the city’s
residents is a high priority.

“We will not stop until every San Franciscan has access to free wireless
Internet service,” Newsom said in the speech. “These technologies will
connect our residents to the skills and the jobs of the new economy.”

Newsom’s statement also influenced AnchorFree’s change in policy, and the
company launched the Marina District Hotzone in San Francisco on Monday.

“There’s no need to charge because there’s free wireless access provided
by other companies,” Gorodyansky said. “We have a lot of users and we
couldn’t have kept it at $5 per month.”

Hiller said that, ironically, AnchorFree needed to stop charging for its
services in order to stay afloat. 

“If we didn’t do this, we’d go out of business,” he said.

According to Gorodyansky, the main objective of AnchorFree is to “make
large metropolitan cities wireless.” He added that the company should
have enough financial support to achieve its goal.

“We have investors that pay for it to be free,” Gorodyansky said.

He added that companies have much to gain from funding AnchorFree because
free wireless will expose more users to Internet advertisements.

Junior Howie Chiou said he thinks AnchorFree’s policy-shift will be a
huge benefit for Stanford students who enjoy studying off-campus.

“Because so much of our academic work is dependent on the Internet, we’re
really limited to work or study in places that offer wireless,” Chiou
said.

Currently, he does not leave campus to study more than twice a week due
to the lack of public areas that provide free wireless service. However,
he said AnchorFree’s decision to stop charging for wireless access may
prompt him and others to take a break from campus and spend more time
downtown.

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