At the Starbucks coffee shop across from Santa Rosa Junior College, an employee suggested a patron go downtown if he wanted free wireless Internet access. Starbucks offers a wireless connection through T-Mobile, but it costs money.

"I want it, but I won't pay for it," said Nick Maricle as he left Starbucks. "Free Wi-Fi would be awesome."

Maricle might soon get his wish.

Sonic.net plans to expand its free wireless Internet access from downtown Santa Rosa into the adjoining junior college neighborhood.

The proposed free network would cover an area roughly the size of one square mile. It uses an innovative technology originally intended to provide Internet access for low-income families.

The expansion comes at a time when other free wireless projects have fallen apart.

In San Francisco, the EarthLink-Google plan to build a citywide network crumbled in late August due to the unexpectedly high cost of wireless networks. Other projects in cities from Chicago to Houston have either failed or stalled too.

Sonic.net hopes to avoid a similar fate by taking a unique -- and less expensive -- approach.

Where other projects cost anywhere from $100,000 to $190,000 a square mile to build, Sonic.net hopes to spend less than $25,000 a square mile.

Sonic.net will rely on community involvement. It is using a new technology that allows it to team up with its customers, who will contribute a slice of their Internet connection to feed powerful relay devices mounted atop light poles.

Sonic will split the cost -- and the profits -- of the project with individual customers who will help it build the network, one connection at a time.

Customers who agree to participate in the project will purchase a bundle of easy-to-install hardware for $30, with the remaining $50 covered by Sonic.net. The hardware splits the customer's DSL line, sending some of it to the free network and some of it to their home network. For security, the networks are kept completely separate.

Dane Jasper, president and founder of Sonic.net, said customers rarely use all their bandwidth and likely will not notice any slowdown in their Internet connection.

"We find that typical end-users consume about 2 percent of the bandwidth in their link," he said. "The excess is what we're seeking to leverage."

If a particular zone is getting overused, Sonic.net could supplement it by establishing a dedicated DSL line for the free network, Jasper said.

But to function at all, Sonic.net needs some of its customers to step forward.

"If we get a relatively small number of customers participating, it will work," Jasper said. "The more gateways, the faster the pathway."

Participating customers will receive 50 percent of any advertising revenue generated by the Wi-Fi network. Sonic.net will help pay for the project by placing ads on the browser bar of people who use the free network.

Also, the bundled hardware functions as a wireless Internet connection inside the home. So rather than buying a Linksys router for $60, users can buy the bundle for $30. However, the bundle lacks some basic functions of a router, such as the ability to link home computers or printers in a wireless network, because it contains a safety firewall to prevent outsiders from accessing customers' computers.

San Francisco residents will also be eligible to buy the hardware at a subsidized price, but Sonic.net is not authorized to install relay devices atop lamp posts in San Francisco. And it is the relay devices that make the network zing.

Sitting atop lamp posts, the relay points take the relatively weak signals from people's homes and blast it across the neighborhood. The pole-top units communicate together, creating a web-like mesh so if one fails another can cover it. Signals get weaker and slower with distance.

Sonic.net has access to light poles in Santa Rosa under an agreement it struck with the city to provide free wireless Internet access in select locations such as Howarth Park -- although the city provides the equipment in those areas. It has a similar deal with Petaluma, but that deal is limited to the downtown area.

Sonic.net plans to install the relay nodes in Santa Rosa in late September or early October.

Eric McHenry, chief technology officer for Santa Rosa, said the Wi-Fi expansion is good news for residents.

"What we've been missing is a way to extend our broadband appetite as we leave our homes and offices," McHenry said. "Wi-Fi is emerging as the connectivity option of choice for mobile devices -- not just laptops as previously thought, but also now for popular devices such as Apple's iPhone and new iPod Touch."

People will be able to look up a business address, the weather, or download music while sipping coffee or waiting for the bus.

Everytime someone logs onto the free network and clicks on a Google ad in the banner, the revenue will go into a pot that Sonic.net splits with its participating customers.

Sonic.net is setting its expectations low for the amount of revenue that will be generated, Jasper said. A customer who pays $18 a month for DSL could have their bill reduced by 50 cents to a few dollars, he said.

"There will be money; we just don't know how much yet," Jasper said. "It's an experiment."

The project is also a way for Sonic.net to market itself. Everytime someone logs onto the network they will see Sonic.net's home page.

Still, some analysts are skeptical that any communitywide Wi-Fi will work.

"It may be that Wi-Fi is not the ideal way to go," said Stan Schatt, vice president of broadband and wireless network research for ABI Research. "There are other technologies that are coming in."

Once 3G mobile Internet access provided by cellular phone companies becomes faster and more ubiquitous, Wi-Fi might not be necessary, Schatt said. Another technology known as WiMAX might also take the place of Wi-Fi, he said.

Esme Vos, founder of Muniwireless.com, strongly disagrees. She pointed out that Apple added Wi-Fi technology to its latest round of iPods and its CEO, Steve Jobs, gave the technology a glowing endorsement.

"Steve Jobs just said yesterday how great Wi-Fi is," Vos said. "Everything is being Wi-Fi enabled now."

Vos said it was very interesting that an Internet service provider was actually subsidizing a product that other Internet providers such as Comcast and Verizon forbid their customers to use.

"A big company is not going to do this. They don't want people sharing. They want each house to get a connection," she said.

The Junior College neighborhood has the largest concentration of Sonic.net users. About 22,000 residential customers use the company for DSL service across California, with about 6,000 of those households in Santa Rosa.

But Jasper said he is not concerned about losing customers. Dial-up customers are vanishing. And increased competition from cable, telephone and satellite companies mean Sonic.net is experimenting with several business models.

"This is the kind of diversification we need if we are going to survive," Jasper said.

You can reach Staff Writer Nathan Halverson at 521-5494 or nathan.halverson

@pressdemocrat.com.