In Los Angeles, officials want to blanket the city with wireless Internet access that’s affordable to the masses. But their counterparts here can’t even give it away, the Los Angeles Times reports.

In his October 2004 State of the City address, Mayor Gavin Newsom pledged that his administration would “not stop until every San Franciscan has access to free wireless Internet service.”

Newsom forged a plan with Google Inc. and EarthLink Inc., under which the companies would build a Wi-Fi network offering two tiers of service: a free one, plastered with online advertisements, and a faster version without ads for $21.95 a month. They would pay San Francisco to put signal-beaming antennas on its light poles.

But in a city where suspicion of corporate interests flows as thick as the fog, the plan is meeting resistance at every turn.

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