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It’s been a year since Google started offering free WiFi in Mountain View, California. Their mesh network uses 400 access points scattered around the city to support 15000 users each month. There’s more details in Google’s blog post.

Meanwhile, there isn’t much news about Earthlink’s WiFi project in Chinatown, just a few steps away from my office. I discussed this effort on May 26. The project was announced last summer in several articles, and Hawaiian Electric was a partner. HECO was considering WiFi as one medium for smart electric meters, which I discussed on June 11.

If Anaheim can build out a wireless network for its residents, as discussed in this Wired article, Honolulu could do the same. In the meantime, Road Runner has been adding WiFi Speed Zones for its customers, and is allowing residential users to hook La Fonera mesh routers to their existing cable modem connections.

Meanwhile, Clearwire and the mobile telcos are still marketing their laptop data cards. These devices tap the mobile phone network to deliver a connection in the 50-300 mbps range. It’s not as fast as WiFi, but these connections tend to be more secure than a WiFi connection through an unknown router.

This is all leading up to a reallocation of the wireless spectrum in the US, as mentioned in GoingWiMax. Rumors are popping up again that Google is developing its own mobile device or gPhone.

Given Google’s net-centric business model, a gPhone might need a fast wireless connection. Judging from the photos, it might also need some design work.