businessweek.com— Backed by VC cash, a former FCC official's startup is out ro provide no-fee, ad-supported wireless service
May 22, 2006View in Crawl 4
Would anyone care to explain why this is a GOOD idea? The government does absolutely nothing better than a free and open market does (other than waste money and time, that is).
Where is this $15 - $25 Broadband, I've never seen anything that cheap unless it was a 3 - 6 month promotional offer. With the SBC(now AT&T) / Comcast monopoly in the Chicago-land area broadband continues to be in the $40 - $50 range for a decent broadband connection.How about the phone companies that were broken up 20 years ago stop merging together, and the courts stop ruling in the favor of monopolistic Cable companies and against any sort of legislation that would allow for more competition. In my opinion there simply isn't any real competition occurring in the Internet marketplace at the moment. People can rattle off about the free market all they want but the fact of the matter is, unless there is decent competition, companies are going to charge high rates for sub-standard products.
I hate when people say "It isn't really free if it's ad-supported." Let's say some company is supporting this free wi-fi and I already buy from them regularly. I am getting a product from them back for my money. I would buy from them wi-fi or no wi-fi. Then they use the profit from my purchase to give me FREE wi-fi. I have my product now I have something extra for FREE. Unless the cost of the product goes up enough where you feel that you are purchasing it because you get the wi-fi then the wi-fi is just a free perk.
thatguybobMay 22, 2006
Would anyone care to explain why this is a GOOD idea? The government does absolutely nothing better than a free and open market does (other than waste money and time, that is).
kev23777May 22, 2006
Where is this $15 - $25 Broadband, I've never seen anything that cheap unless it was a 3 - 6 month promotional offer. With the SBC(now AT&T) / Comcast monopoly in the Chicago-land area broadband continues to be in the $40 - $50 range for a decent broadband connection.How about the phone companies that were broken up 20 years ago stop merging together, and the courts stop ruling in the favor of monopolistic Cable companies and against any sort of legislation that would allow for more competition. In my opinion there simply isn't any real competition occurring in the Internet marketplace at the moment. People can rattle off about the free market all they want but the fact of the matter is, unless there is decent competition, companies are going to charge high rates for sub-standard products.
kev23777May 22, 2006
I am for anything that would/could encourage AT&T/Comcast to lower their rates and increase my upload/download rates. If I have to pay a couple more dollars in taxes to provide community WiFi, so be it. This assumes, of course, that community WiFi access is still legal in your area.<a class="user" href="http://www.opinionjournal.com/cc/?id=110007188">http://www.opinionjournal.com/cc/?id=110007188</a><a class="user" href="http://www.politechbot.com/docs/ensign.telecom.bill.072705.pdf">http://www.politechbot.com/docs/ensign.telecom.bill.072705.pdf</a>
bkoolMay 22, 2006
I hate when people say "It isn't really free if it's ad-supported." Let's say some company is supporting this free wi-fi and I already buy from them regularly. I am getting a product from them back for my money. I would buy from them wi-fi or no wi-fi. Then they use the profit from my purchase to give me FREE wi-fi. I have my product now I have something extra for FREE. Unless the cost of the product goes up enough where you feel that you are purchasing it because you get the wi-fi then the wi-fi is just a free perk.
gabskijMay 22, 2006
Chewie67: I'm sorry. There is prior art.
mercanoMay 22, 2006
When has that stoped anyone?
pzarkerMay 23, 2006
i would have dugg this, if i hadn't posted the same story 4 days ago: <a class="user" href="http://digg.com/deals/Free_national_wireless_internet_">http://digg.com/deals/Free_national_wireless_internet_</a>
invaderMay 26, 2006
the parent post is referring to these:<a class="user" href="http://digg.com/technology/Google_patents_free_Wi-Fi">http://digg.com/technology/Google_patents_free_Wi-Fi</a>