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It's been a good week for Wi-Fi startup Meraki. First of all, the company raised a cool $20 million in venture capital. Investors included Sequoia Capital, DAG Venture and Northgate Capital.

What's more, Meraki says it will offer free high-speed wireless Net access throughout San Francisco. No doubt, the announcement is getting a lot of buzz.

But what does this really mean? I had a chance to interview Craig Settles, the author of Good Fight for Municipal Wireless. According to him:

"It is vitally important that people realize Meraki is NOT making this service available for free elsewhere. People have to pay for the hardware and individuals have to step up to provide DSL or some other high-speed landline access for some of these repeaters. Meraki is doing what EarthLink -- along with Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) -- should have done, that is, use the big, high-profile city as a marquee account, but sell the service to everyone else. Don't get sucked into the 'free' hype.

Continue reading Meraki's Wi-Fi free-for-all in San Francisco

Meraki's Wi-Fi free-for-all in San Francisco originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Merakimuni Wi-FiMuniWi-fiWiFiwirelessFri, 04 Jan 2008 17:38:00 EST<![CDATA[Muni Wi-Fi -- a permanent casualty of EarthLink's (ELNK) restructuring?]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/09/04/muni-wi-fi-a-permanent-casualty-of-earthlinks-elnk-restrus/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/09/04/muni-wi-fi-a-permanent-casualty-of-earthlinks-elnk-restrus/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/09/04/muni-wi-fi-a-permanent-casualty-of-earthlinks-elnk-restrus/#commentsFiled under: , ,

With the massive restructuring at EarthLink (NASDAQ: ELNK), one of the casualties is municipal Wi-Fi. The company was a backer of a roll-out in San Francisco - along with Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) - and in Houston.

Yes, free Wi-Fi can be a boon for cities, such as in terms of bringing in new business. However, it's not easy to pull off.

So, might the actions of EarthLink mean the death knell to the movement?

I had a chance to interview Craig Settles, who is an expert on muni Wi-Fi and the author of Fighting the Good Fight for Municipal Wireless.

According to him:

"Last week's string of announcements by EarthLink serve as a huge exclamation point on the reality of where we are with the muni wireless trend - no more free lunch courtesy of the vendor community. What started off as a good idea, a marketing loss leader of building Philly's network for free because if was such a high-profile city in muni wireless at the time, created a Frankenstein as almost every city in America then wanted the same thing.

Continue reading Muni Wi-Fi -- a permanent casualty of EarthLink's (ELNK) restructuring?

Muni Wi-Fi -- a permanent casualty of EarthLink's (ELNK) restructuring? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>EarthlinkelnkinthenewsMuni Wi-Fimunicipal wi-fimunicipal wirelessMunicipalWi-fiMunicipalWirelessMuniWi-fiTue, 04 Sep 2007 14:40:00 EST