Google provides free wireless Internet in hometown

Internet search giant Google opened a wireless Internet umbrella over its hometown in northern California's high-tech Silicon Valley, enabling anyone in the city to connect online for free, an AFP report said.

"It worked smashingly," Chris Sacca, Google head of special initiatives, told AFP. "We have really been looking forward to this day. The citizens have embraced it as their network."

The report said Google spent $1 million to create a network that allowed people with wireless-enabled computers, telephones or other devices to link to the Internet nearly anywhere in the city of Mountain View, which covered almost 31 square kilometers.