Reach thousands of intelligent, expert readers interested in the latest in Wi-Fi News with your message of sponsorship.

The above could be a paid, sponsored link. Contact me for more information.

Subscribe to essays from this site via email. Email to subscribe, or sign up via your Yahoo account.

Slow news til the new year: I'm off to the in-laws this morning, so expect some slow news days for the next couple of weeks. Traditionally, announcements aren't made, but you never know what story might break.

SF Chronicle anecdotes on consumer Wi-Fi gateways: A quick runthrough of a columnist's efforts to configure several gateways.

Slow and steady...and cheap: On my travels these days, I'm using a new Sony Ericsson T68i cell phone with Bluetooth to make 10 kbps GSM calls. Why so slow? At the connection prices for Wi-Fi, when I need five minutes of a hookup, I'd rather download email tediously (and not pay attention) as part of my minutes plan than paying $7 to $12 for a 24-hour connection. I don't use Cingular's GPRS option as it costs $30 per Mb beyond the first Mb each month for just a few multiples faster than GSM. The hot spot industry has the advantage of speed, but until roaming makes it sensible for me to have a fixed monthly account that works everywhere, they'll be bleeding even my dollars off to the cell operators.

Cheap irony and high winds: The irony is rich about the above item. I'm sitting at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport now, having shelled out my $6.95 (the third time in the last three weeks) to Wayport because Chicago is experiencing high winds and thunderstorms, and thus our flight was delayed 2 1/2 hours. So far. We think we'll get to Bradley field. The irony, of course, is that we took a shuttle and arrived well over two hours before the flight, and the new security personnel are incredibly efficient. We had some breakfast, got to our gate, and I used my neato GSM phone to check email and then was waiting to get on board.

With a few hours to kill now, and some work in progress, I'm reverting to type: $7 to be productive over this period of time is a great deal. Ah, well, as a Mac user, I'm just biding my time until the first quarter release of Boingo's client, at which point I sign up for at least the $25/month service given my upcoming travel schedule, and just hope they keep adding partners.