technewsworld.com — Microsoft is initiating a push into municipal WiFi with a pilot program that aims to cover 95 percent of Portland, Oregon, by mid-2008. The software giant inked a deal with MetroFi, which will deploy the free, advertiser-supported service.
Nov 15, 2006 View in Crawl 4
akiraxxxNov 16, 2006
Woo hoo! More ads! Thank God. I was worried that they were running out of ways to remind me that, as an American, it is my duty to buy stuff. I can't wait until we start showing ads on the surface of the moon.
ieathamburgersNov 16, 2006
Remember the 7UP commercial? I want one of those lasers for Christmas."Who's been messing with my laser?"
rockarollrNov 16, 2006
Microsoft has done nothing but copy Google and Apple lately. It is nothing more than a "me too" company with second rate products now. The powers that be at Microsoft should just rename the company "Gapple".
rexmaxusNov 16, 2006
Free WiFi is not a thing to look forward to. If anyone with a WiFi card can use the internet for free then there will be no way to regulate it.Regulation is a good thing, it is what allows us to (try to) keep spam in check. Or what would stop someone from breaking the law if the connection can't be traced back to them.Paying for the internet is a good thing.-Brian out
jetsetterNov 16, 2006
I live downtown Portland--so this is pretty exciting. I don't really care who is serving ads--I'll probably use the pay version anyway. It will be great to stop paying $50+ a month for Comcast!This makes wifi-capable devices like the MDA more useful and affordable. You can not pay for a 3G cellular service if you spend 90% of your time in PDX anyway. Pretty cool."Plans call for download speeds of 1 megabit per second, and upload speeds of 256 kilobits per second. That's considerably faster than dial-up, although slower than most cable and DSL access."According to this: <a class="user" href="http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/115336237056510.xml&coll=7">http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/115336237056510.xml&coll=7</a>That is probably acceptable for the most part. Can I torrent? I'd need to be able to torrent.
bdbrNov 16, 2006
Portland's been at this for some time. Its a city project, not a Microsoft project or "deal". The city issued the RFP in mid-2005; MetroFi was selected late last year, and the proof-of-concept is nearly complete. MetroFi was allowed to get advertising revenue, and that's where MSN stepped in at this late stage.It'll be bad news for Starbucks that they can't charge for wireless anymore. Its not like we'll sit outside in the rain and surf!
slandersJun 21, 2007
There are tons of other cities with free wifi that do not provide ads while surfing (and are not run my Microsoft). A good list can be found at <a class="user" href="http://www.openwifispots.com/guide_free_wireless_zones.aspx">http://www.openwifispots.com/guide_free_wireless_zones.aspx</a>
ricechenMay 11, 2010
There are tons of other cities with free wifi that do not provide ads while surfing (and are not run my Microsoft). A good list can be found at <a class="user" href="http://www.openwifispots.com/guide_free_wireless_zones.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://www.openwifispots.com/guide_free_wireless_z ...</a>