See below- Jacob Farkas wrote:
> Anthony et al, > > We have "won" a battle, a pretty important battle, but there is much > left to do to sustain the victory, so to speak. > > 1. Commercial wireless services have a very difficult time competing > with free service because there is very little value added to the > commercial service. At least not enough to justify its price. > > 2. If a company were to try and lower the price of its wireless service, > i.e charge a price consumers may be willing to swallow, the company > would have a very tough time sustaining its operation. > Commercial carriers will eventually bundle Wi-FI and bury their financial burden within the subscribers contract. Commercial carriers are the "Kings Of Subsidy" Cust will think Wi-Fi is free or almost FREE. Here are some quick Carrier metrics: CPGA= $300- $400 (Cost Per Gross Ad) Handset Subsidy $100-$175 Churn 2~3% What is another $50 to subsidize for some free Wi-Fi ? They carrier gets a 2yr contract that will yield them $1400~$1500? > > 3. When businesses seek to lure foot traffic to their venues they opt to > use free wi-fi as a lure, rather than opting to earn a 'buck per wi-fi > user' as promised by commercial wi-fi hawkers who propose revenue > sharing of wi-fi. This is becoming very popular lately, and privately > people are choosing to frequent free wi-fi establishments, as can be > seen by the inclusion of "free wi-fi" as an amenity in some independent > restaurant/bar reviews. > True- > > 4. The advantage of a commercial system is still in its availability and > reliability. And mobility.....the 300Ft is the deal breaker. > You can select the free wi-fi network while sitting at > Starbucks, if and only if their is one, and one strong enough to reach > within Starbucks, and if it does have the oomph, does it have the > bandwidth, and if it does have the bandwidth, is the node owner > willingly sharing his Internet connection? But there will most always be > a for pay option, with good signal, and with decent bandwidth. > Yea, but the commercial carriers will have Voice/Data/Video in one unit with seamless roaming (on their hot spots). The new smart phone will take a USB mem stick like a laptop. The already have fold away keyboards and external screens. Time to get slicker than them. > > 5. Much of the growth is not done with intentional sharing. The majority > of available nodes in NYC are of the 'linksys' or 'default' SSID, i.e. > some guy scoring a cheap AP online, plugging it to his home network, for > his own use, and by extension to all those within range. I would love to > think that this person would be sharing his connection if he knew, but > that is not always the case. The only way you can really gauge success > is by having those who share declare that they are sharing, preferably > by; a) Assigning a known SSID tag, one that is synonymous with free > wi-fi, b) Adding the node to a map that contains free nodes. Although > these are basic recommendations that we have called for in the past few > years, there needs to be more activity or we risk the possibility of > fewer available free nodes, as people become more aware of security > concerns. > True- > > 6. NYCwireless has had tremendous success in Manhattan with regard to > public spaces, parks, etc. These nodes are very important as they > provide Internet in a usable environment. Many nodes are free and open, > but the only practical method to use that connection is by standing on > the street with a notebook. There is no shortage of semi-public or > public spaces without free wireless, particularly in the outer boroughs. > Yep- > > So while I agree with Anthony's premise that NYCwireless has > accomplished a major objective in securing free, open, and public > wireless Internet, these are a few points that could use some support so > to insure that it remains this way in the future. > > As for what can be 'next' for NYCwireless? The logical successor to the > building of a free network infrastructure would be free content. The > Internet as a commercial entity is half content and half ads. Try > getting useful information, free e-mail, etc. without encountering heavy > advertising. I support the rights of website operators to earn money, > but I decry the diminishing number of quality free useful information. > > Jacob Farkas > > What's next? A STRONG voice at the Portals (FCC). Who went to the broad band forum last week? Some one needs to watch these guys. They are all trying to kiss bu** so they can get that plush job when they leave the bureau. Wi-Fi needs a presence in DC, some one who can "Walk the Walk and Talk the Talk" (Lawyers need not apply). Time to take Wi-Fi to the next level. The commercial guys are closing in quickly, in terms of speed and penetration. It may not be free but once they bundle in Wi-Fi they will tell cust they are only paying $1.99 a month. It's time to promote VoIP -Wi-Fi- phones. And at the same time look at the next generation air interface and Freq band. One that offers some mobility. Marcel- -- NYCwireless - http://www.nycwireless.net/ Un/Subscribe: http://lists.nycwireless.net/mailman/listinfo/nycwireless/ Archives: http://lists.nycwireless.net/pipermail/nycwireless/
