What Are Google's Real Wi-Fi Plans?

Google claims in its latest blog that it currently has no plans to roll out a nationwide Wi-Fi network. But there are signs that behind the scenes the search giant may be, in fact, preparing the groundwork for such a network. Back in August, Om Malik, in a Business 2.0 piece, noted that Google "has quietly been shopping for miles and miles of 'dark,' or unused, fiber-optic cable across the country from wholesalers such as New Yorks AboveNet."

He added "It's also acquiring superfast connections from Cogent Communications and WilTel, among others, between East Coast cities including Atlanta, Miami, and New York."

Since then, the company has bid to provide a Wi-Fi network in San Francisco, and will be building a free Wi-Fi network for its hometown of Mountain View. And one of its spokespeople told the Mountain View city council that it viewed the Wi-Fi network as a testbed for other, larger projects.

All the signs certainly point to a nationwide Wi-Fi network.

There are other possible explanations, though. The "unsolicited pundit," journalist, and Wi-Fi watcher Glenn Fleishman, for example, wrote to tell me that he thought no such network is in the offing. He claims the company won't do it because "there's not enough margin in it."He may be right, but I still think that a nationwide Google Wi-Fi network is in the offing. It won't blanket the entire country, but will instead focus on urban areas with the greatest chances for profits --- cities like San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Boston, and others. Highly targeted ads will more than make up for the cost of maintaining the network.