San Francisco’s Market Street gets a taste of free public Wi-Fi

Good news, everyone! Everyone in San Francisco, that is. More specifically, everyone in San Francisco who lives or works on a three-mile stretch running along Market Street. You’re (finally) getting free Wi-Fi!

The keen-eyed among you probably noticed the “_San_Francisco_Free_WiFi” network name that emerged on Friday, Dec. 13, but the system was rolled out over the course of a few months, despite being in the planning stages for years. While a tentative agreement had been inked with AT&T late last year, the city ultimately struck out on its own, with help from hardware and service donations from a number of companies, SFGate reports. Fiber optic cable links network equipment mounted on traffic lights and other fixtures running along Market Street.

[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":873245,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,","session":"C"}']

It might not seem like much — especially in light of Kansas City’s Google-equipped fiberhoods. But Market Street is a fairly busy and important thoroughfare here in San Francisco, and free Wi-Fi will go a long way to helping out tourists or folks with lower incomes who don’t have access to all-you-can-eat data plans. The network cost the city $500,000 and extends from Castro Street to the Embarcadero.