Wi-fi and the future of wireless

Christian Science Monitor ^ | January 05, 2004 | Gregory M. Lamb

[Libertarianize the GOP]

ping

[Bon mots]

Might as well post a proper link:



I do not condone what you will learn at this site...

[Professional Engineer]

ping

[upchuck]

Dial up is already there. :)

I live a ways from town. When BellSouth installed my phone line last September, I asked the tech about DSL. He chuckled. I asked, "When will DSL be available here?" He said, "Never." I asked why not. He said, "This area's too sparsely populated. No way is BellSouth gonna pay to upgrade the nearest remote station. It would take years and years for them to break even."

We don't have cable here either. For the same reason.

I checked on internet via satellite. $80-90/month. Ouch! I love my fellow FReepers, but not that much :) And I've had people tell me internet via satellite sucks.

Bottom line: I'll be using 56K dialup for the foreseeable future.

And remember, there are millions of folks all across the country that are in the same boat as me.

We obviously need a taxpayer supported program to underwrite the cost of having cable, DSL and wi-fi available everywhere! Yeah, that's the ticket :)

[ClintonBeGone]

Bottom line: I'll be using 56K dialup for the foreseeable future.

That's too bad. I felt like that until they installed the cable modem. For months they would send direct mail pieces saying it was available and I would call and they would tell me, a few more months, etc. Believe me, when it arrived I was a happy camper. P.S. I didn't know the satellite was so expensive. That's without the porn channels?

[hedgetrimmer]

Here's a wifi product you probably haven't seen.

Its cost about 31 million dollars to develop so far.

[McBuff]

I have wireless at home. I don't understand how this would work elsewhere. How would a different router some place else recognize my plug-in receiver? I've tried in other places but it doesn't ever connect. I know I'm missing something. . .what is it?

[Yeti]

Coincidence: I came to FR and found your thread at the top of the Latest Posts page, after I just finished reading this at CheeseBikini.com(I agree, by the way, it sounds good):

I Want My Wi-Fi Telephony

Last February I requested a small, cheap mobile device that:

• notifies me when I'm within range of an open wi-fi (wireless Internet) access point, and:
  
• allows me to call any telephone number on the planet, nearly free of charge, whenever I'm within range of a Wi-Fi signal, via a simple numeric-keypad interface.

Back then, the hardware necessary to make this a practical reality wasn't cheap and it wasn't widely in use. Now it is. Many of the most popular PDAs (personal digital assistants), like my new Palm Tungsten C, provide Web browsers and high-bandwidth wi-fi Internet connectivity.

We have the hardware. We have the infrastructure -- the cities are becoming saturated with wi-fi hotspots, many of them free for public use, and robust Internet telephony networks have been in use for years.

And we have the client software -- but it hasn't been designed for the right devices. A handful of firms like Dialpad and Net2Phone already provide cheap PC-to-phone voice service. But none of them seem to have ported their client applications for use on PDAs.

What are these firms waiting for? For a very modest investment in resources, Dialpad and its competitors can make a very compelling offer: global telephony on the go for prices less than one-tenth what you pay for mobile or even land-line phone service.

Dialpad: I have my portable wi-fi telephone and I'm ready to pay you to use it. What are you waiting for?

Filed under ideas at 11:48 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) | Permalink

[Laserman]

I live in the mountains of Colorado. Folks in our area set up a CO-OP broadband network with one high speed acess point. It works great and is not very costly ($40/MO).

QWEST told us the same thing about DSL and cable. SO we went around them.

[Myrddin]

I'm hardwired for my home theater arrangements. I watch so little TV or DVD movies that it just isn't a big priority in terms of time or money around here.

[knews_hound]

100% copper in my LAN

Ditto.

knews hound

[mvpel]

And I've had people tell me internet via satellite sucks.

It sucks less than 56k dialup for most things.

[Flyer]

BEWARE of "Wardrivers"!!!!

I use an iPAQ with WiFi and do "incidental" wardriving, I guess. Mostly I connect in hotel parking lots, but I have found a few individual open connections. I drive all day and use the connections to drop in here and our Houston Chapter forum just to keep up on he news.

[dhs12345]

Me too. My friend has a wi-fi network and was confused the other day why his password wouldn't work. Turns out he was accidentally trying to log into his neighbor's network.

[dhs12345]

Not sure if this is still true but you can't get the performance out of wireless that you can out of copper.

Besides, copper is so cheap ~ 35 bucks for two cards and cable.

[Professional Engineer]

Besides, copper is so cheap

My house has the phone wiring done with Cat5 cable. I was able to use 1 pair for telephone, 2 pairs for the LAN and the 4th pair for an in house telegraph so jmy son and I can send morse code to each other with telegraph keys.

[Bush2000]

Some of us do. 100% copper in my LAN

Unless that copper is completely shielded, you're still vulnerable.

[Flyer]

Just dropping by to post 115 miles from home, thanks to a connection from Hampton Inn in Lufkin.