Comments on: EarthLink christens its first citywide Wi-Fi

Will company's strategy of building wireless networks in U.S. cities fill a void left by exiting dial-up users?

[kimocrossman]

CPE for indoor coverage

See video here:
http://news.com.com/1606-2_3-6088739.html

Did you see the CPE device often needed for indoor coverage? - it's an antenna the size of a paperback book and another transmitter/receiver box - imagine carrying that around with your laptop!

[Yet Another Mark Johnson]

Free WiFi

The real problem here is that "pay for WiFi" models are going to be hard to get subscribers for.

It's just obvious that WiFi is becoming a free "expected amenity" of retail establishments. Soon you won't go to a coffee shop without free WiFi any more than you'd use one that didn't have air-conditioning or a restroom. People will just naturally expect that establishments "give away" some minimum speed WiFi connection, and if the place doesn't, they'll go elsewhere. The "T-Mobile hotspot at Starbucks" model is doomed. In a few years no one will be willing to pay anything at all.

When you think just how trivial the challenge is to add free WiFi at a place like a coffee shop, it's obvious that they ALL will simply HAVE to in order not to be left out. If you own "The Coffee Shop On The Corner" and you do the math, you realize you'll spend a one-time cost of about fifty bucks for the access point and then monthly costs of about another fifty bucks to give the service away to everyone who is coming in for a latte. It's not even "worth" trying to "meter" or regulate! And if you don't give it away, they'll just drive another couple of blocks down the street to your competitor who does!

In a few years there is going to be so much free WiFi in retail locations you'll have a hard time finding a place without it.

[commsoft]

AT&T is not an alternative.

"A one-year promotional service offered from AT&T ... costs only $12.99 per month." I think I'll choose just about any alternative to the company claiming ownership of all data that I transmit on its lines...

[Jackson Cracker]

Same with Verizon

Go to www.verizononline.com and enter a phone number and
you'll see that the $14.95 offer isn't available in many
parts of the country.