Dvorak: Free Municipal Wi-Fi May Start Revolution

[Nick]

"What if...Google discovers that localized service with
localized search and local advertising...can not only
pay for the system but provide a new profit center?"

Monday, August 21, 2006
By John C. Dvorak

Google has been toying with the idea of implementing free municipal Wi-Fi.

I've always believed that it began as a whim, but became a subtle threat
aimed at the major carriers who are saber-rattling over tiered service,
threatening to charge Google (GOOG) more for its supposed free ride on
their networks.

This, of course, is ludicrous, since there is no free ride for anyone.

Anyway, somewhere along the line, the concept of Net neutrality emerged.
This new concept got Congressional attention soon after Google suggested
that it could use a Wi-Fi mesh to light up the city of Mountain View, Calif., and
then San Francisco for free.

Now to prove that it can do this, Google actually has lit up Mountain View.
Anyone driving through the town can pull off the road and do e-mail for free.

It cost Google a million dollars to pull this stunt off, but that's chicken feed for
Google — a fact we cannot overlook. ...

More @ FOX News.com (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,209702,00.html)

[Bogy]

Yes, free wi-fi for everyone. :D

[DonLandis]

The 802.11x spec is a terrible one to use for muni wifi service. The system just doesn't support the kind of security necessary for mixing with strangers. Anymore, I refuse to use wifi services from hotels since it has become so pervasive. At least not on my laptop. The cell phone contains no confidential info so I have used it from time to time but the connection speed is mostly terrible in the busy hotels. I just got back from traveling and stayed at different hotels with wifi each night and none of them were providing satisfactory service.

I think if you use it on a laptop with no confidential information, don't do banking and other internet secure work with it, but just do stuff that you don't care who is looking in, then by all means use wifi with a bunch of strangers.

FREE wifi sounds good but really what we need is something a whole lot more secure for municipal use. I would suggest something like the clearwire technology that doers use secure connections for each person. Cell phone connects is also adequately secure.

Wifi 802.11x was designed to be used where the various connects all know each other and can trust each other, but a city wide network, no way! This same thing applies to ethernet hard wire inside a hotel.