Hello Patrick, PL> EvilBunny, PL> Actually, in the US most WISPs have to be dragged kicking and screaming to PL> the hotspot model. They definitely are not clamoring for it. Many, in fact, PL> think hotspots will be offered as an amenity (as you noted also), and as PL> such, in their opinion there is no money in it for them as infrastructure PL> providers. In my opinion, hotspots will be all over the place regardless of PL> the current dilemnas and regardless that Boingo, Joltage, Wayport, T-Mobile, PL> etc. have not been able to successfully convince the throngs of small, PL> hometown commercial WISPs that they have anything to gain in providing the PL> infrastructure.
Other countries the rules of the game are different... eg here it only recently changed to allow companies to do any wireless activities without an expensive carriers license (along with all the fun things required by law on carriers), now it's legal to run hotspots without commercial license, so a lot of people are trying to get into that business model... there are those trying to build a last mile, fixed point wireless network but there is a lot of obstacles, such as $10 -> $100k/yr licensing... PL> All the hotspot noise as far as the major IT interests are concerned is only PL> about getting the money out of business travelers in hotels, airports, and PL> coffee shops. For the WISP and for those of us that support them, it is PL> about bringing broadband into their schools, businesses and homes where no PL> one else cares enough to do so. At a time when everyone else is just PL> talking, complaining, or hyping, WISPs are stubbornly doing just "doing it" PL> in thousands of tucked away communities around the country. I wish them the best of luck, it's kind of the thing I wish for my home town, but it just isn't a viable option for a community of 300ppl... then again if it wasn't for my parents still living there I wouldn't care either way... PL> Someday, for better or for worse, an aggregator will come along to PL> "Wal-Mart" them and that will be the end of a very interesting pioneering PL> era in the revolution of IP. Even with all the walmarts and starbucks of the world I still see cafe's and corner stores... hell I even still see hamburger places left after the macdonalds crusades... I doubt any major chain unless it wanted to be unprofitable could kill these things off... then that kind of goes against monopoly laws and anti-competitive behavior... However there are companies licking their lips at being able to get access to all networks to resell a service where any hotspot anywhere could be accessed... that's where the walmarts and telco's are likely to come into the game... look at how much money has been lost by carriers rolling out networks in the past, no they are waiting for other ppl to do it for them :) -- Best regards, evilbunny mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.cacert.org - Free Security Certificates http://www.nodedb.com - Think globally, network locally http://www.sydneywireless.com - Telecommunications Freedom
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