MCI deserves death penalty, Wi-Fi flash in the pan at telecom conference: Read the article and then consider Verizon's position. If you're a monopoly player restricting access to DSL customers and your principal rival, Comcast, hasn't quite figure out how to offer the right mix to its cable customers at the right price, then you can play games about charging per computer or talking down Wi-Fi. (The Cox spokesperson made the claim that two percent of their users use 40 percent of the bandwidth, but that doesn't mean they know whether that's legitimate use or not!)
But if there is adequate competition, then if Verizon wants to charge you a higher rate to share a connection with multiple machines via Wi-Fi (or not allow it at all) and Speakeasy (my home and business ISP) not only lets you share bandwidth with your computers but with neighbors and throws in a cheap Wi-Fi gateway...it's easy to see where the market forces lead.
The clear answer is that with limited choices for consumers, the monopolies will try to force them into their mold. More choices means that some ISP will "win" by offering the right package at the right price. If they can sustain the model, they can beat the telcos.
Hah! "no one has any idea how to turn Wi-Fi into profit". I enjoy watching the telecomms crumble. I just hope that they don't make a mess.
I reread this article, and I don't see Babbio scapegoating wi-fi. His beef about MCI is legit. I'm newly subscribed to Verizon DSL, so I'm getting a great deal, plus wi-fi access when I'm stomping around in Manhattan. But the truth is, at the Verizon hotspots I've been at, there's also was a public hot spot, with a stronger signal. You can't stop progress.
In fact, when I installed my Linksys wireless router, I had to call Verizon because I forgot my password to my account. I mentioned that I was setting up this router, the support person said, and get this, "I can help you with that." He walked me through the process, and my wi-fi was working and confirmed before I hung up the phone.(Home wireless networks are an enormous success, who wants to write that article for Business Week?)
Everyone is hurting in this economy. Teachers in Oregon are working for free in order to finish out the school year. But, THIS COUNTRY'S DESTINY IS IN TECHNOLOGY (and I don't mean smartbombs) no matter how much dot com anxiety you may have. Unfortunately, it looks like the leadership and direction is not coming from those who should know better and will eventually have the most to gain financially. We're forgetting about the future.
-BK
Why is it I feel that that the telcos and cable companies are clueless? Give customers what they want and they will happily beat down your door (did I get that expression right?). Even though I have "good" service with cox, I am still peeved about the upstream limit and the limit on file-size of attachements (3.5MB?? Puhleeze! Can you say "home video?") Its the same with wi-fi. Unless you are fortunate enough to live in a "tech city" (West Coast, DFW, NY Chicago), finding wi-fi is almost an impossibility. Wi-Fi and broadband (like TiVO) are one of those things that until you have it, you dont think you need it. But once you do, you'll never go back.