Google, EarthLink plan network with free basic access

SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc. is joining EarthLink Inc. in a bid to build a wireless network in San Francisco that would offer basic Internet access for free and charge about $20 per month to surf the Web at higher speeds.

The partnership, revealed late Tuesday night, represents the first time that Google has acknowledged it wants help in its quest to provide free wireless, or Wi-Fi, service throughout San Francisco, where the hills could make reliable Internet connections more difficult.

Google, which runs the Internet’s leading search engine, and EarthLink, a major Internet service provider, had been bidding against each other but recently decided it made more sense to team up.

Under the partnership, EarthLink would pay for most of the projected $15 million cost to build and maintain San Francisco’s Wi-Fi network over 10 years, said Don Berryman, EarthLink’s president of municipal networks.

EarthLink would recover some of its expenses by charging about $20 per month for Internet access about 20 times faster than dial-up service, Berryman said during a Wednesday interview. Google’s free Wi-Fi alternative would be about five to six times quicker than dial-up.

In San Francisco, the joint bid by Google and EarthLink is competing against five other proposals. The other finalists are: Communication Bridge Global; NextWLAN; Razortooth Communications LLP; MetroFi and SF Metro Connect, a partnership that includes SeaKay, Cisco Systems Inc. and IBM Corp.

San Francisco hopes to pick a winning bid in April.