San Francisco seeks proposals for Wi-Fi. Citywide network would be free for users

Mayor Gavin Newsom’s quest to blanket San Francisco with wireless Internet access took a big step forward Thursday, when the city opened formal bidding on the project.

Companies are being asked to provide free high-speed service to users — whether at home, at work or in the park — at no cost to the city. The companies will also be required to provide a premium level of paid service with 1 megabit-per-second download speeds at prices that are less than commercial rates.

Bidders will have 60 days to respond to the request for bids. The city has said it wants to have the wireless network up and running sometime next year.

Verne Kopytoff, Ryan Kim, Chronicle Staff Writers

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