> Also, I feel that the central arbiter of such a cooperative network, > should not be a for-profit company. Most definitely it should not be one > which sees it's "free" access point operators as a way to extend it's > brand and promote it's other services.
Well, to make it work you need an arbitrage-type arrangement where folks who want to pay can send cash to ONE place and the owner of the AP that serves that customer gets the micro-payment based on use. Setting up that kind of thing is non-trivial. I know, I did it for the telco/VoIP space. Lots of work, and it takes cash to keep it running. Unlikely that will happen unless the artibitrage company gets a cut ofthe action too and can make a profit. Now, the free alternatives are already in place and working, and that's great. But choice is a good thing too - and there are probably a lot more nodes that would pop up if you made it easy for a Mom-n-Pop operator to participate in this kind of arrangement and get some cash back for it. But besides, having an option of free or pay-for nodes widens the opportunities. Greg -- general wireless list, a bawug thing <http://www.bawug.org/> [un]subscribe: http://lists.bawug.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless
