OK, but it was Nam you quoted, not me.
On Jun 2, 2005, at 10:02 AM, Glenn Fleishman wrote:
Jim Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> on 6/1/05 at 12:08 PM wrote:
I've very much enjoyed our discussion. I think we are not as far
off as we
may seem. I agree that eventually Wi-Fi may turn free, I'm just not
convinced it will be any time soon.
I'll tell this group of cc'd folks what I've been saying for a
couple of years: Wi-Fi access in public venues will get split into
at least two categories, although I now think it might be five total:
* Free, one business: fits the coffeeshop model, more trouble to
charge than not, brings in people during slack moments
* Free, commercially supported: NewburyOpen.Net model in which a
chamber of commerce, business district, set of businesses, or a
chain (like Panera) decides free Wi-Fi is in their financial
interests to bring people in
* Free, amenity: It's a toilet, for chrissakes, and it's cheaper to
install and run than to change the carpets on two floors of the
hotel or motel
* Free, municipal: serves the municipal interest in some fashion to
have free Wi-Fin parks, city buildings
* Fee, bundled: When you can get access to 30,000 hotspots in the
U.S. for a fixed $20 to $30 per month added onto a cable, cell,
landline, or DSL bill (or some combination of those), a lot of
people will. When you're a businessperson and you don't pay your
own expenses and your company expects you to be a 100-percent
reachable, your company will pay the negotiated fleet rate of $20
per month per user or the iPass metered model to average use across
a company.
--
Glenn Fleishman
seattle . washington
unsolicited pundit . glennf.com
columnist . seattletimes.com/practicalmac
daily wireless networking news . wifinetnews.com
