David Utter      2005-11-10

A proposal similar to its September response to San Francisco's request for information would have Google transform its home city into a free wireless hotspot.

Mountain View looks like such an obvious place for Google to try out its wireless network, it's a little surprising they didn't try this sooner. As SiliconValley.com noted, Google made some details about the offer known on Wednesday:

The proposal included an offer from Google to place 300 "softball-sized" transmitters on utility poles and street lights. More details about the proposal should become public later today.

However, the city of Mountain View already has an agreement in place with local firm MetroFi to install a WiFi network city-wide. MetroFi appears amenable to ceding the network to Google, though.

"If they don't deploy, we'll deploy since we already have an agreement with the city," MetroFi Chief Executive Chuck Haas said in the report. "My view is that 99.9 percent of cities don't have a citywide network, so it doesn't make sense for Mountain View to have two of them."