Wi-Fi Suddenly Old News
Yet another municipality is building and offering low cost wi-fi service citywide. By far the most ambitious project is Philadelphia, making wifi available over 135 miles for a cost of $10 Million. But there is Salt Lake City, Spokane Washington and still more cities offering the same services, free or on the cheap.
The idea behind making WiFi available for free or inexpensive is that the city gains young professionals and attracts technology companies of the next generation economy. Possibly.
But what it really means is the cost of for profit WiFi companies will soon be coming down, and that, shortly, the United States will be one giant WiFi zone.
Don't believe it? Well for one thing, the wifi record was recently set at 55 miles. Of course, this was a test, but it means its possible for wifi to work at great distances. And as the list of cities offering some form of discount wireless going, T-mobile's hegemony on Starbuck hotspots might just be coming to an end.
Once these networks are in place, there will be a whole host of services sprouted off them, much like pager and cell phone networks. Ten years ago, who would have thought Instant Messenger would have been available over cellphones? Who even had cellphones?
The point is that once there is an established fulltime network of WiFi out there, then private enterprize will start building addons. It would be impossible for a device relying on WiFi to work in today's environment since hotspots are just that - small localized spots.
On the other hand, if say the entire northeast had WiFi, then carrying handheld devices to surf the internet becomes a reality. Imagine going to the grocery store and researching a recipe from Foodtv.com while buying the ingrediants. Or price comparing books from amazon.com while in Borders books and music. Or reading up on the facts and history of the Garden State Parkway as you cruise in the southbound lane.
Already Tmobile has the sidekick for email and internet. Blackberrys of course are widely used [did you know Congressional members were issued them after 9-11?]. But these devices are all very basic in comparison to a full blown WiFi access.
Already new and creative services are rising from the ashes of the dotcom era. Rent downloadable movies. Buy iTunes songs. Watch and listen to live broadcasts of newsevents.
With a full time WiFi network blanketing the northeast, the only next logical step would be a movie player that downloads rented movies anywhere, anytime. Or an iPod that downloads new songs as you ride the train.
Don't think we're advocating this entirely though. We love the idea of Blogging anywhere in the tristate region. But think of the Spam.
The idea behind making WiFi available for free or inexpensive is that the city gains young professionals and attracts technology companies of the next generation economy. Possibly.
But what it really means is the cost of for profit WiFi companies will soon be coming down, and that, shortly, the United States will be one giant WiFi zone.
Don't believe it? Well for one thing, the wifi record was recently set at 55 miles. Of course, this was a test, but it means its possible for wifi to work at great distances. And as the list of cities offering some form of discount wireless going, T-mobile's hegemony on Starbuck hotspots might just be coming to an end.
Once these networks are in place, there will be a whole host of services sprouted off them, much like pager and cell phone networks. Ten years ago, who would have thought Instant Messenger would have been available over cellphones? Who even had cellphones?
The point is that once there is an established fulltime network of WiFi out there, then private enterprize will start building addons. It would be impossible for a device relying on WiFi to work in today's environment since hotspots are just that - small localized spots.
On the other hand, if say the entire northeast had WiFi, then carrying handheld devices to surf the internet becomes a reality. Imagine going to the grocery store and researching a recipe from Foodtv.com while buying the ingrediants. Or price comparing books from amazon.com while in Borders books and music. Or reading up on the facts and history of the Garden State Parkway as you cruise in the southbound lane.
Already Tmobile has the sidekick for email and internet. Blackberrys of course are widely used [did you know Congressional members were issued them after 9-11?]. But these devices are all very basic in comparison to a full blown WiFi access.
Already new and creative services are rising from the ashes of the dotcom era. Rent downloadable movies. Buy iTunes songs. Watch and listen to live broadcasts of newsevents.
With a full time WiFi network blanketing the northeast, the only next logical step would be a movie player that downloads rented movies anywhere, anytime. Or an iPod that downloads new songs as you ride the train.
Don't think we're advocating this entirely though. We love the idea of Blogging anywhere in the tristate region. But think of the Spam.
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