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San Francisco Offers Free Wi-Fi Along 3-Mile Stretch Of Market Street

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) - San Francisco is offering free Internet access along one of its main thoroughfares.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the city-owned wireless network was running last week ahead of its formal rollout on Monday. It covers a three-mile stretch of Market Street from Castro Street to the Embarcadero.

City officials said it cost about $500,000 after donations from two companies, Ruckus Wireless, of Sunnyvale, and Layer42 Networks, of Mountain View.

It comes as the city is moving forward with plans to bring free Wi-Fi to San Francisco's public parks in partnership with Google. City officials had proposed citywide wireless Internet access in 2007, but that plan fell apart amid concerns about a contract with EarthLink and Google as well as political bickering.

The new network is running under the name San Francisco Free Wi-Fi.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services may have contributed to this report.)

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