With the insane number of free hotspots popping up everywhere, you're bound to ask yourself, "Why pay for something when you can get it for free?"

Quite a few journalists are asking the same question. There was a story in the NYT (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/07/technology/07wifi.html) (free sub req) the other day, which is part of a trend of news stories popping up looking at free wifi as an attractive business lure. See also this piece in Computer World (http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/wifi/story/0,10801,93588,00.html) and this one from the Monterey Herald (http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/business/8888400.htm). It's the typical wifi-lure game: Get 'em in the seats and they'll linger and eat or drink while they work or play.

You don't have to look hard for free hotspots either. Free Wi-Fi Hotspots (http://www.wififreespot.com/) is one of a few sites that is cataloging them. They also have a companion blog (of course!) called Free Wi-Fi News (http://www.wififreenet.com/weblog/) which gives you the score on daily trends in the wild world of freebie wifi.

But the question, that's really only adequately addressed in the NYT piece is really, "What will this do to the carrier market?" Companies seem to be hedging their bets on an incredible need in unserviceable areas like airports, where free wifi won't tread. And their aiming their sites at people who really need to send that document right now!

Seems like a thin slice? Time will probably tell.

You forgot another "free" resource for Wi-Fi:

According to surveys, 80% of all global multinational cooperations have wireless networks that are accessible to the outsiders. Banks, educational institutions, ... its all there, you just have to open your eyes ;)

True, if you wanna futz around trying to figure out the ssid....

Associated Press runs the story Industry asks why buy Wi-Fi? (http://www.registerguard.com/news/2004/06/13/d4.bz.wifi.0613.html) pointing out that no one (they talked to) is profitable in the hotspot business. It seems that there is no such thing as a standalone Wi-Fi hotspot business anymore.

I was thinking about this (albeit briefly) yesterday. Some analysts are saying that the best places for viable hotspot bizness is in airport lounges, where people are basically trapped while waiting for a flight. The funny thing is that the airlines are now fumbling over themselves to equip the aircrafts with wifi routers.

And many of the bizness/1st class lounges already have free wifi. Granted, that's a smaller population of customers, but often the ones using wifi to begin with.

Yea, I can see how a bundled service with a mobile carrier is going to have a bit more appeal. Now if they'd just bring the prices down...!

You're right Sunshine, the pricing is the problem. I was looking at T-Mobile yesterday and they wanted $30/month + a one year commitment for something that I might use from time to time. And the pay as you go option is even worse. I think they need to look at a model like the phone cards. A bunch a minutes at a flat rate that I can buy at a gas station or 7-11.

Absolutely true. I think the problem that they're having is a justification issue. Like, why have a router if people may or may not use it. Additionally, I think they're banking on getting people on the commitment train (insert your own marriage joke here).

Whether you may or may use it is an issue, but so is the availability of the service. Until the routers are widespread enough, people just won't wanna have to go hunting around until they find service. I don't wanna have to run to Starbucks everytime I need/want to use wifi.

I'm sure the rollout is just taking time though.

Whether you may or may use it is an issue, but so is the availability of the service. Until the routers are widespread enough, people just won't wanna have to go hunting around until they find service. I don't wanna have to run to Starbucks everytime I need/want to use wifi.


There it is, right there. This is the whole point. If it were everywhere, $30/month would not seem so bad. But to run somewhere specific to get it is quite another story.

You are right on point.

I dont want to go to some place and plugin in order to use the internet on my PDA. Can anyone help me with this? I have a visor Prism and loved it when I had omnisky but, they went bankrupt and I dont know where to go to be about to send and receive email and surf the web with my PDA now. What do I need? Where can I get it? What does it cost and how do I set it up? I am not a techie and dont understand how to get back on the web using just a PDa. I dont want to use a cell phone that is part pda and part cell phone. Is there a device I can buy or a service I can get to put my visor back on the web by using maybe advantgo as a web page to link me to other pages. HELP

Don't fret bc41129. We do need some info from you though.

First, which Visor you have?
Second, what cell carrier are you set up with? And, is your contract up to date (ie, are you free to switch carriers?)
Third, what cellphone do you use?


I'm assuming you want to go live and not do offline clipping.

There it is, right there. This is the whole point. If it were everywhere, $30/month would not seem so bad. But to run somewhere specific to get it is quite another story.

You are right on point.

Which goes back to my whining about the whole roll-out process. Apparently we should have widespread wifi service in most major U.S. cities by the end of next year. I can understand how telecom's are starting to feel reluctant to carry out their plans to toss routers all over the place, knowing full well that they're competing with businesses large and small.

The advantage that the teleco's will have is that they'll be able to offer instant service in most places, which for convenience, will cause people to use it. Most people won't think twice about using a bundled service with say, their cellphone plan, if they can get on the net whenever and where ever they want -- eliminating the "gotta run to Starbucks" effect we feel now.


Btw, have you guys seen Wifile (www.handshigh.com/html/wifile.html)? Cool new product. :)

I have a visor Prism.
I use trac phone for a cell phone which is a pay as you go type service. Therefore, I will need a different type of service for the PDA. Something in the line of the old Ominsky program. This was great I just pluggin in my modem into the slot and signed in and i was surfing the web and reading emails while i was in the car on vacations. Husband drove. lololol

Is there anything like omnisky out there now. If so where do i find it? Hey I paid 300 dollars a year for this service and would do it again if I could just find a provider. I loved the ability to go wirelss anywhere anytime like I use to do with omnisky. I dont know what all this hifi stuff is about. Who in their right mind would want to go to a starbucks or other place to just be able to surf the web or send emails. Doesnt that sort of take the fun out of having a PDA with a modem?

I do appreciate anything you can tell me. :dizzy2:

bc41129,

The easy answer is to buy a data cable and use your cell as a modem. SupplyNet (http://www.thesupplynet.com/searchResults.cfm?mySearch=mfg&prodMadeBy=248&SubString=) carries a mess of them for the Prism, which are all about $40. If you have a dial-up ISP you'll just burn cell minutes. If you have a data plan with your wireless, which I'm doubting if you're on a pay-as-you-go program, then you'd just pay the data rate.

There's a reason OmniSky went out of bizness...great & cheap services tend to do that. ;)