Google schools me on broadband black holes

Google’s Mountain View, Calif., Wi-Fi network was supposed to mark the search giant’s evolution into an ISP when it was unveiled three years ago, delivering free Internet access to people as a way of getting more of them to see its ads. Instead it’s stayed confined to Mountain View.

And when I spoke with Karl Garcia, the current head of the project, he was pretty ambivalent about both its impact and its future; there was no talk of expansion or any of the usual Google enthusiasm for taking this model and using it to change the world. The contract with the city isn’t up for another two years, but Garcia didn’t disclose when negotiations for furthering the project or shutting it down might begin...