Small California Town Outdoes Philadelphia

Yes, it’s true: A small town in California with a population of 72,000 has totally just kicked Philadelphia square in the family jewels. Okay, okay, the town happens to be Mountain View, California, home of Google, but that doesn’t change the fact that Google is offering the entire town free Internet.

Google won’t be giving it to them through a series of tubes, oh no — it’s free Wi-Fi Internet for the whole city. Philadelphia, whose Wi-Fi system is slated for completion in 2098, will be charging somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-20 bucks a month for it. And, hell, even San Francisco — whose Wi-Fi is going to be done by Earthlink, the same company doing Philly’s — is going to have a free (but slower) Wi-Fi run by Google, with a top speed service at $20 a month.

Yep. Philly will be conquering that problem of the digital divide any day now.

Google: Free Wi-Fi for our hometown [AP/CNN.com]