The city of Santa Clara is piggybacking on the installation of connected, smart utility meters to blanket the city in a publicly accessible, free, wireless network.
"Residents of Santa Clara, Calif. not only have a new smart meter program but free outdoor Wi-Fi to boot," reports Kevin C. Tofel. "The city’s non-profit electric municipal utility, Silicon Valley Power (SVP), is taking advantage of connected electric meters by integrating support for a second public unencrypted Wi-Fi channel, allowing the city to blanket the airwaves with free Wi-Fi."
While the network won't offer blazing speeds, it will allow residents to "check email, social networks and other light usage," at an attractive price point.
Read the full story: Santa Clara launches free outdoor Wi-Fi on backs of smart meters
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