San Francisco’s deal with Earthlink and Google for citywide Wi-Fi has become “frustrating”, with “no backup plan” if Earthlink pulls out, Mayor Gavin Newsom voiced to MarketWatch.com today.The mayor was responding to a question about the Board of Supervisors’s decision to wait until July to vote on the proposal.He told MarketWatch he wants Google to “hold on until we at least get a vote up or down, one way or another, at the Board of Supervisors.” Speaking about what Earthlink pulling out might mean for the deal, he said: “There is no backup plan. We’ve spent two years to put this plan together and we think it’s as good as it gets.”“That being said, Google’s still holding on. I don’t think they get much from this except a lot of publicity. But this is hardly a company that’s wanting for publicity … But I think there’s some frustration and I understand that and I hope they can hold out until we at least get a vote up or down, one way or another, at the Board of Supervisors.”See the video, courtesy of MarketWatch: Honestly, with WiMax right around the corner, Wi-Fi for cities like SF is already looking outdated — perhaps two years too late? I am planning to review the use of WiMax for the City of Folsom, east of Sacramento, very soon. Folsom, where I live, is an Intel town, and this is all about marketing for them too. But the cost of blanketing a city with WiMax vs Wi-Fi, which requires numerous hotspots, seems reason enough alone to wait for WiMax networks and its ubiquity in mobile devices. Technology Industry