Free Solar-Powered WiFi Coming to a Town Near You

Meraki — the ubiquitous WiFi company — announced that their much anticipated solar unit will begin shipping on December 4 as part of the company’s mission to bring affordable Internet access to everyone. Here in San Francisco, I often connect my iPhone to their Free the Net hot spots while out and about.

But San Francisco isn’t the only place to benefit from this. According to the company, their customers span 125 countries and range from operators for individual buildings to large carriers connecting entire towns and regions. It seems the new solar units can only further their goal. The units will be ideal for such places as fair grounds, parks and rural areas.

The unit isn’t cheap, costing $749 for a bring-your-own-panel model and up to $1,499 for larger units. But as pricey as that is, it can be significantly less than a wired solution.

It will be interesting to see if Meraki can complete their goal considering how large companies like Google and EarthLink have failed at such efforts both here in San Francisco and in other cities like Philadelphia.

Image: Meraki press resources

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