In Mountain View, card-carrying library members can access a WiFi connection that’s six times faster than what most budget internet plans. And for free.
In the self-knighted (and universally understood) tech sphere of the country (and world, to be frank), you’d think fast WiFi would be synonymous with the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s not.
Because of the region’s network monopoly — akin to how PG&E has a literal death grip on California — we’re all mainly subjected to speeds available through just a small handful of internet providers. When our Xfinity routers don’t experience outages, most of us are bottlenecked to upload and download speeds of around 500 megabytes per second (Mbps). And that’s if you’re splurging on an above-average network plan; Xfinity’s cheapest plan as of publishing has an upload and download speed of just 150 Mbps.
Less common providers like Monkeybrains — which, though hella affordable at $35 a month for service, only averages around 40 Mbps for its lowest tier — and Earthlink exist, but might not be available in your part of San Francisco and the greater SF Bay Area. (I’d bet my unborn firstborn that Xfinity would be, though.) So for many of us, finding a connected signal gem when we’re out and about or working from a cafe, public space, or park lawn is a welcome treat.
Post by @pranavdixitView on Threads
Surprisingly, the largest and most accessible connective pleasure might exist inside the Mountain View Public Library. At 1.0 gigabytes per second (Gbps), its free public WiFi connection is twice as quick as most of our home internet speeds … and some six times (or more) faster than budget internet plans.
Threads savant and tech journalist Pranav Dixit recently visited the library and was floored by the WiFi speeds there. “Never leaving Mountain View Public Library,” he writes on Meta’s answer to Elon Musk’s flailing social media company.
The literary bastion at 585 Franklin Street in Mountain View has floor-to-ceiling glass that fills the angular space with ample natural sunlight — a welcomed contrast to the blue light we’re subjected to daily. Best yet, library cards at the Mountain View Public Library are free for any California resident, allowing access to the blistering fast WiFi speeds and the acres of sun-warmed pages.
Buffering? In this economy? With all this anxiety surrounding the conceivable collapse of our fragile democracy? Absolutely not.
Feature image: Courtesy of Mountain View Public Library
