Google WiFi

Lots of speculation today about Google’s WiFi plans after the discovery of some “Google WiFi” web pages. For the record, the official line from Google is that this is nothing new, and that it’s directly related to this little item the Merc published in July about Google launching two experimental hotspots near its campus. (Google also sponsors two San Francisco hot-spots.)

Said Google spokesman Nate Tyler: “Yes, Google WiFi is a community outreach program to offer free wireless access in areas near our headquarters. The project was started as part of an engineer’s 20% time project, and we are currently testing it at a limited number of locations.

It’s still not clear to us whether the web pages themselves that people spotted are new or not. Another Google spokeswoman we talked to didn’t know.