Rumors abound now that folks have found some Google beta test pages which seem to indicate that Google is testing a Wifi service. The leader on this story is Om, whose piece frames the argument for why the company might do it here.
The pages in question – http://wifi.google.com/download.html and http://wifi.google.com/faq.html -either do not resolve, or now resolve to Google itself. Certainly the company is up to something…but Google is not commenting. No cached pages are found on Google either. Anyone find any screen shots?
In any case, I think folks really want to believe that Google is about to offer something totally game changing here, and honestly, it’s hard not to want to believe this – it fits exactly our collective expectations for the company. But there are so many dots to connect in this idea, that I find a massive, one step roll out hard to fathom. On the one hand, if Google does pull this off, it’d be a coup. On the other, maybe this is just a speculative test, and it’s teaching us the power of the the Google Rorshach effect in real time….
Update, one page is now resolving again.
Both of those URLs resolve. The FAQ page should work for everyone. The download page will work if you visit it from a Windows machine. There is some javascript on that page that sends any non-Windows browsers to http://www.google.com.
Re: Google Wi-Fi (aka “GoogleNet”
Google has been quietly shopping for unused fiber-optic cable from wholesalers. Google could use such a network to provide free wi-fi in major cities. Google is working with San Francisico start-up, Feeva, which has technology that would allow Google to determine the location of every user on its wi-fi network. Local businesses would pay a fee to Google to serve up advertising to wi-fi users located close to their businesses, thus covering Google’s expenses, plus a lot more.
LETS PLAY BASEBALL!!!!!