Some more of the article I posted earlier.
The International Data Corporation, a research firm, predicts that Europe will have 32,500 hubs, or "hot spots," by 2007, up from 1,083 sites at the end of 2002. They will generate a projected $1.4 billion in revenue. For example, Paris is starting to construct a wireless network, using the Metro system, with its 400 stations, as a backbone. At the moment, Wi-Fi coverage is limited to a single bus route that connects two Paris train stations, the Gare du Nord and Porte d'Orleans. Eventually, the Paris public transportation authority plans to install up to 10 radio antennas in every major Metro station, allowing riders to send e-mail or browse the Web while commuting to and from work. Here in Manchester, by using radio transmitters and other wireless equipment supplied by Cisco Systems, the city has turned a six-square-mile area into a Wi-Fi hot spot. Residents can receive high-speed Internet access by mounting a small antenna on their homes and inserting a card into their PC's. The network covers 4,500 houses, in a motley neighborhood that ranges from tidy terraced homes to bleak housing projects. About 730 homes have signed up for the service so far. Mr. McGonigle hopes to connect 1,500 homes by the end of the year, and 2,500 by the middle of 2004. For �16, or $26.50 a month, people can have unlimited Internet access. A cheaper package, for �6, or $10, a month, gives access to a Web site called EastServe, which offers e-mail, online chat groups, and news and information tailored to East Manchester. Comparable service by a telephone or cable company would cost $30 to $40 a month. And it would depend on whether these providers were willing or able to offer broadband access. Cable operators have wired less than 10 percent of East Manchester because it remains an unappealing market. The BT Group, formerly British Telecommunications, can offer broadband access by upgrading its existing copper wires. The trouble is, a quarter of the residents here do not have phone service, either because they have been disconnected or rely exclusively on cellphones. "We found that the gap between affluent and deprived areas has gotten wider with technology," Mr. McGonigle said. Before this project, Wi-Fi was viewed less as a technology leveler than as a convenience for sophisticated techies. In its most visible incarnation - in airports, cafes, and the like - it offers business travelers and other switched-on types superfast Web access on the road. Offices and factories also use Wi-Fi technology to create private communications networks. With new phones from Cisco and Motorola, people are even using it to make cellular calls. At first, industry executives said, mobile phone providers in Europe viewed Wi-Fi as a threat to 3G, a more advanced technology in which they have invested billions of dollars for licenses. But as 3G has been delayed by financial and technical hurdles, some providers now view Wi-Fi as a potential stopgap technology, until 3G is ready. "Now that they see it's going to happen anyway, they want to be involved," said George Polk, a Wi-Fi entrepreneur in London. Mr. Polk's company, Cloud, announced last month that it would turn 200 pubs into hot spots. It is the first phase of a plan to build a nationwide network, with 3,000 pubs and other public places. Cloud will act as a wholesaler, selling access on the network to providers like BT Open Zone, a wireless subsidiary of the BT Group. Open Zone, in turn, will sell service, at a monthly subscription or hourly rates, to customers whose laptops are equipped with the necessary software. Whether an English pub, with its jukebox and dartboards, is a suitable place for catching up on e-mail or surfing the Net is a debatable point. Mr. Polk insisted that pubs had become far more than watering holes in British society. "It is the coffee shop of England," he said, evoking images of people pecking at their laptops while sipping a pint. In Manchester, a local company, Netario Wireless, has installed hot spots in two of the city's most striking contemporary buildings: Bridgewater Hall, a performing arts center, and the Urbis museum, a sloping glass-encased structure with interactive exhibits on the world's great cities. Philip T. Coen, Netario's enthusiastic chief executive, said he planned to build a Wi-Fi network so pervasive that it would transform central Manchester from a patchwork of hot spots into a "hot zone." "If you can make deals with the right landowners," Mr. Coen said, pointing to the roofs of strategically situated buildings, "you can Wi-Fi a whole city, and there's nothing anybody can do about it." Mr. Coen's approach may sound sly, but it merely reflects the technical realities of Wi-Fi. Because the radio signal carries in a radius of only about 100 to 150 feet, Wi-Fi providers typically cut deals with the proprietors of bars and cafes to install their equipment in each establishment. By mounting antennas on the roofs of buildings across the street from popular meeting places, Mr. Coen hopes to be able to offer service without having to hustle for every bar owner or restaurateur. (to be continued). http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/31/technology/31WIFI.html?ex=1055526308&ei=1&en=b4a3634e7feab2c0 Phyllis Kahn State Rep 59B TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
