Mayor Sam Liccardo plans to bring Wi-Fi to 50,000 homes and 95,000 residents in the next 10 years.
“Free internet? That sounds great! Someone like myself who needs to get their homework done, that just sounds great,” said English junior Eric Perez.
The city plans to install small devices on light poles across San Jose.
According to the city, the installation will be funded an estimated $24 million under the “Digital Inclusion Fund.” The initiative will be one of the largest of its kind.
According to the city, this fund will be supported by the fees the city charges to wireless providers, according to the city.
“It is always a good day when we can expand technology options in the capital of Silicon Valley while ensuring that no resident of our city will be left on the wrong side of the digital divide,” Liccardo said in an interview with ABC7 News on Feb. 13.
Sunne Wright McPeak, president and CEO of nonprofit California Emerging Technology Fund, said the initiative will cost wireless companies such as Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile $750 per pole to install a small cell antenna.
The total fund will be around $2.2 million each year and that money will be used toward supplying both homes and schools according to ABC7 News.
Download and upload speeds will meet the Federal Communications Commission’s definition of broadband at 25 megabits per second and 3 megabits per second.
McPeak went on to say that other cities should replicate San Jose’s model of connecting the city to free Wi-Fi.
Other cities charge hundreds of dollars for small device installations.
Part of the initiative includes using neighborhood libraries to teach 5,000 students per year how to code with after-school sessions.
Computer science majors at San Jose State University often struggle with Wi-Fi and can be seen camping outside libraries, fast food restaurants and many other Wi-Fi enabled establishments in order to complete their work.
But San Jose isn’t the first city to install free Wi-Fi. Houston, Texas has implemented a similar project.
According to the Houston Chronicle, the city of Houston did a similar project with Comcast in residents’ homes and turned 50,000 Wi-Fi routers into public hotspots all around its city in 2014.
According to the 2017 U.S. Census, San Jose has a population of over one million residents.
Residents in Houston were offered $8 to rent standard issue routers by Comcast.
Homeowners nervous about their private home routers becoming hotspots can disabled them. Unlike the 5G antennas soon to be installed on light poles across San Jose.
“We need internet nowadays. Sometimes it’s hard to get internet, some places have free internet. We always use it,” said public health freshman Christian Rabe.
