Cellular phones topics - WiFi comes to Charleston!

Author

WiFi comes to Charleston!

Larry

2006-01-26, 11:48 pm

Take a look at Charleston, SC's new WiFi service that's nearly ready for
free WiFi from a local company and the local newspaper....

Cellphone, cable and DSL providers, of course, are pissing in their panties
trying to put a stop to it.

http://www.charleston.net/stories/?...ection=business

Here's the inflight movie version...(c;
http://www.widespreadaccess.com/wirelesscharleston.htm

The totally free access is at 250Kbps, much faster than what cellular can
deliver. If you subscribe, you get more speed and "features" up to 36Mbps.
Subscribers can buy into 1Mbps and 3Mbps for more bandwidth, which is what
the builders hope they'll do.

It'll spread across the rest of the city in the near future....

Just turn on your PDA or laptop and there'll you be...we hope.

Frankster

2006-01-27, 5:48 pm

> Take a look at Charleston, SC's new WiFi service that's nearly ready for
> free WiFi from a local company and the local newspaper....
>
> Cellphone, cable and DSL providers, of course, are pissing in their
> panties
> trying to put a stop to it.
>
> http://www.charleston.net/stories/?...ection=business

>
> Here's the inflight movie version...(c;
> http://www.widespreadaccess.com/wirelesscharleston.htm
>
> The totally free access is at 250Kbps, much faster than what cellular can
> deliver. If you subscribe, you get more speed and "features" up to
> 36Mbps.
> Subscribers can buy into 1Mbps and 3Mbps for more bandwidth, which is what
> the builders hope they'll do.
>
> It'll spread across the rest of the city in the near future....
>
> Just turn on your PDA or laptop and there'll you be...we hope.

250Kbps is not more than VZW EVDO can do, but for free, it would keep me
away from EVDO at $59/mo.

This is the type of steadily increasing free internet access, all around the
country, that I believe will force VZW to lower it's data price. Perhaps not
this year, but by next year, I bet.

Ten years down the road, who knows... it'll probably be included in the plan
with no extra charge. Watching this evolve kinda reminds me of the old days
when you had to put a quarter in the "TV set" in a hotel room to watch TV (I
know I shouldn't have said that - now you guys know how old I am!). There
were lots of companies that thought they'd make a fortune with "pay TV" in
hotels. Heh heh...

We are quickly becoming a "data expected" society. It won't be long before
charging extra for data will be analogous to charging more for "homogenized"
milk. (You mean you can get milk un-homogenized?" - yeah, right!)

-Frank

Larry

2006-01-27, 5:48 pm

"Frankster" <Frank@SPAM2TRASH.com> wrote in
news:Poednfp2KKr73kf
eRVn-qw@giganews.com:

> Watching this evolve kinda reminds me of the old days
> when you had to put a quarter in the "TV set" in a hotel room to watch
> TV (I know I shouldn't have said that - now you guys know how old I
> am!)

I always ran out of quarters putting them into that little round box that
made the bed and my honey vibrate....(c;

Frankster

2006-01-27, 5:48 pm

> I always ran out of quarters putting them into that little round box that
> made the bed and my honey vibrate....(c;

How's your vision today, Larry? LOL!

-Frank

Quick

2006-01-27, 5:48 pm

Frankster wrote:
>
> This is the type of steadily increasing free internet
> access, all around the country, that I believe will force
> VZW to lower it's data price. Perhaps not this year, but
> by next year, I bet.
>
> Ten years down the road, who knows... it'll probably be
> included in the plan with no extra charge.

Yes. It will be factored into the price of the plan which
will be that much higher. There is a cost to providing the
service and they are not going to provide it without making
a profit or enabling some other service that does. For example
1xRTT was originally included no extra charge with AC plans in
order to enable GIN. Point is that it won't become "free" it just
won't be available a-la-carte.

> We are quickly becoming a "data expected" society. It
> won't be long before charging extra for data will be
> analogous to charging more for "homogenized" milk. (You
> mean you can get milk un-homogenized?" - yeah, right!)

They actually just brought the price of un-homogenized
milk up to the price of homogenized. Since everyone bought
homogenized it cost more to "special case" un-homogenized.

-Quick

Frankster

2006-01-27, 5:48 pm

>> Ten years down the road, who knows... it'll probably be
>
> Yes. It will be factored into the price of the plan which
> will be that much higher.

I agree. Just like the cost of providing TV in hotels in factored into your
hotel bill. But is is expected at no "extra" charge. Nothing is really
free.

-Frank

John R. Copeland

2006-01-27, 5:48 pm

"Frankster" <Frank@SPAM2TRASH.com> wrote in message =
news:camdnYjjVatj_Ef
eRVn-vQ@giganews.com...
>=20
> I agree. Just like the cost of providing TV in hotels in factored into =
your=20
> hotel bill. But is is expected at no "extra" charge. Nothing is =
really=20
> free.
>=20
> -Frank=20
>

But how about those free newspapers?
You didn't think the hotels or the airlines pay a dollar for each copy
of the Wall Street Journal that they give away free, did you?

Remove This

2006-01-27, 5:48 pm

"Frankster" <Frank@SPAM2TRASH.com> wrote in message
news:camdnYjjVatj_Ef
eRVn-vQ@giganews.com...[color=darkred]

TANSTAAFL

--
I work for the ILEC ...." stuff happens! "

George

2006-01-27, 5:48 pm

John R. Copeland wrote:
> "Frankster" <Frank@SPAM2TRASH.com> wrote in message news:camdnYjjVatj_Ef
eRVn-vQ@giganews.com...
>
>
>
> But how about those free newspapers?
> You didn't think the hotels or the airlines pay a dollar for each copy
> of the Wall Street Journal that they give away free, did you?
>

They buy them at a slight discount. It is a cost of doing business. No
different than the supplies they buy for the "free" breakfast.

Frankster

2006-01-27, 5:48 pm

"Remove This" < spamdumpster@verizon
.net> wrote in message
news:mVtCf.13$UY3.7@trndny05...
>
> "Frankster" <Frank@SPAM2TRASH.com> wrote in message
> news:camdnYjjVatj_Ef
eRVn-vQ@giganews.com...
>
> TANSTAAFL
>
> --
> I work for the ILEC ...." stuff happens! "
>

Yeah, I had to look it up (TANSTAAFL). Anyway, we can argue tit-for-tat all
day long about how wireless will not be "free", but I look at it this way; I
consider TV "free" with a hotel, I consider catsup "free" with a hamburger,
I consider public radio broadcasts "free" with owning a radio, I consider
cream "free" with a cup of coffee. Yes, it is all tallied into the overall
cost of the prime object, but there is no "extra" charge because it has come
to be expected.

The real point here is that the cost of these things has been spread out
over a large group. Not only the customers that watch TV, or that use cream,
or that use catsup, but ALL of the customers. That's how I see wireless
going.

Take the example of Charleston in this thread. Is it free? No, I'm sure
it's not. The cost (most likely) has been spread out amongst ALL the
residents (probably via taxes). But note: NOT JUST THE RESIDENTS THAT USE
WIRELESS!

Once these things become "expected" by most of the general public, the
built-in "charge" is accepted. And the large group the cost is spread over
makes the costs very reasonable.

Additionally, after this finally evolves, you will not see many making money
selling the product individually packaged. Can you imagine selling packages
of catsup just outside of a McDonalds? Selling "TV time" just outside of a
hotel? Selling cream just outside of a coffee house? Or... selling
wireless in a city where it is already available for "free" (albeit,
included in your taxes)?

-Frank

Frankster

2006-01-27, 5:48 pm

David S

2006-01-28, 2:48 am

On Fri, 27 Jan 2006 08:59:33 -0700, "Frankster" <Frank@SPAM2TRASH.com>
chose to add this to the great equation of life, the universe, and
everything:

>Ten years down the road, who knows... it'll probably be included in the plan
>with no extra charge. Watching this evolve kinda reminds me of the old days
>when you had to put a quarter in the "TV set" in a hotel room to watch TV (I
>know I shouldn't have said that - now you guys know how old I am!). There
>were lots of companies that thought they'd make a fortune with "pay TV" in
>hotels. Heh heh...

Older than me, probably. The only place I ever saw TVs with coin slots
(other than the adult book store) was in the train station in Montreal when
I was 9 and my father took me to the Olympics.

As for your prediction, if it happens it'll be no more than five years.

--
David Streeter, "a guy's guy" -- Dave Barry
http://home.att.net/~dwstreeter
Remove the naughty bit from my address to reply
Expect a train on ANY track at ANY time.
"Being a vampire sucks." - Harmony

David S

2006-01-28, 2:48 am

On Fri, 27 Jan 2006 11:33:04 -0500, Larry <noone@home.com> chose to add
this to the great equation of life, the universe, and everything:

>I always ran out of quarters putting them into that little round box that
>made the bed and my honey vibrate....(c;

I tried that once... didn't do a damned thing for me, on any level. My
grandmother really enjoyed it, though.

--
David Streeter, "a guy's guy" -- Dave Barry
http://home.att.net/~dwstreeter
Remove the naughty bit from my address to reply
Expect a train on ANY track at ANY time.
"Mr. Nixon was the thirty-seventh President of the United States. He had
been preceded by thirty-six others." - Gerald Ford

Larry

2006-01-28, 5:48 pm

"Frankster" <Frank@SPAM2TRASH.com> wrote in news:fPqdnXNyRuVi1kf
eRVn-
tw@giganews.com:

> How's your vision today, Larry? LOL!
>
> -Frank
>
>

Whazzat? You look all fuzzy, Frank...(c;

Larry

2006-01-28, 5:48 pm

David S < dwstreeter@spamisnau
ghty.att.net> wrote in
news:5d1mt1tf2nsnf97
du970buc7b038t7uq83@
4ax.com:

> tried that once... didn't do a damned thing for me, on any level. My
> grandmother really enjoyed it, though.
>
>

You were in the vibrating bed with your grandmother? No wonder it didn't
do anything for you...(c;

Steve Sobol

2006-01-28, 5:48 pm

Frankster wrote:

> We are quickly becoming a "data expected" society. It won't be long before
> charging extra for data will be analogous to charging more for "homogenized"
> milk. (You mean you can get milk un-homogenized?" - yeah, right!)

And someday we'll catch up with places like Japan that have ridiculously
cheap fiber-optic broadband access to the home/office, for ridiculously (by
US standards) low prices. :) I think cellular data is at that point too.
We're still behind a bunch of other countries in terms of coverage, pric, etc.

--
Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
Company website: http://JustThe.net/
Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/
E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307

Agent_C

2006-01-28, 5:48 pm

On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 18:50:45 -0500, Larry <noone@home.com> wrote:

>It'll spread across the rest of the city in the near future....

Not likely... Once the cost and complexity of actually doing that
becomes clear, most sponsors / municipalities run like thieves.

It costs money to maintain that kind of infrastructure and ever more
money to provide the kind of bandwidth subscribers would be willing to
pay for.

Good luck Charleston!

A_C

David S

2006-01-31, 5:48 pm

On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 10:11:55 -0500, Larry <noone@home.com> chose to add
this to the great equation of life, the universe, and everything:

>David S < dwstreeter@spamisnau
ghty.att.net> wrote in
> news:5d1mt1tf2nsnf97
du970buc7b038t7uq83@
4ax.com:
>
>
>You were in the vibrating bed with your grandmother? No wonder it didn't
>do anything for you...(c;

We were on vacation in Florida, about two years before I hit puberty. One
bed vibrated and the other didn't.

--
David Streeter, "a guy's guy" -- Dave Barry
http://home.att.net/~dwstreeter
Remove the naughty bit from my address to reply
Expect a train on ANY track at ANY time.
"You know, I was supposed to be a flash in the pan. I'm the longest flash
Hollywood's ever seen." - Whoopi Goldberg, accepting a career achievement
award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival

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