Public Access to the internet has always been the aim of Public DataWeb completely FREE this has not been an easy task as many established interests and certain ‘inertia to change’ attitudes have combined to frustrate the idea of free connectivity.
We cut down the objective and limited our focus to city centres after news reports that many cities had toyed with the idea of free access wireless and got involved in over-grandiose coverage systems. These apparently all failed due to the cost of the equipment providers installations and the resulting ‘less’ than the bandwidth speeds and coverage envisioned. PDWeb was a voice in a hurricane and was hardly heard as the big boys talked with city’s about bigger and bigger opportunities.
That was all a few years back and the idea of large scale geographic free WiFi is hardly talked about after so many burned fingers; only Boris Johnson the Mayor of London remains committed to the idea and who would contradict him as his idea of bicycles for London has taken off when many ridiculed it.
With the current interest in mobile devises: the iPhone – iPad and its Chinese built clones like the iPed, IdeaPad U1, and the Eee Pad etc: it is predicted that huge volumes of these devises will be sold in the next 18 months.
So how will the users connect when there out and about? There is no overarching connectivity in city centres for WiFi other than hot spots in some locations, cafes, shops, bars and so on. For the U.K. BT are claiming to provide free connections on the back of existing users modem & router installations teaming up with FRON for BT’s ‘Total Broadband’ but most users are residential.
Such operations are hardly the answer for city centres, with their messy time consuming log in procedures and certainly not free, needing to purchase Apps from an Appstore - as with all such services like mobile users on 3G contracts which does cover cities but its not free. Yes they say you get a free WiFi service but only if you’re a contracted (fee) paying customer – that’s NOT FREE.
Instant connect Free digital access is in a city’s self interest for commerce, tourism and as a general amenity. Visitors are going to prefer it to having to log in register and pay fees, especially international tourists.
The Ipad and its clones will change the connectivity market forever, the Telcos can’t have it thier own-way forever; signing up exclusive contracts fixed to hardware (Apple Ipad), when volumes of clone units flood the market seeking a competing connectivity paradigm; which just may be Free city centre WiFi – which is faster than GPS. Trends can change very quickly and a shift from Telco network dominance towards a device focused one will be good for all.
One city centre that has such a totally free WiFi service in the U.K is Aberdeen where a network of street hubs generate a WiFi Mesh with alternative touch screens for people without mobiles.
The Ipad and its clones will change the connectivity market forever, the Telcos can’t have it thier own-way forever; signing up exclusive contracts fixed to hardware (Apple Ipad), when volumes of clone units flood the market seeking a competing connectivity paradigm; which just may be Free city centre WiFi – which is faster than GPS. Trends can change very quickly and a shift from Telco network dominance towards a device focused one will be good for all.
One city centre that has such a totally free WiFi service in the U.K is Aberdeen where a network of street hubs generate a WiFi Mesh with alternative touch screens for people without mobiles.
Soon in 2011 the first Chinese city’s are to install outdoor hubs (PARASOLS) to provide their citizens with totally FREE WiFi access.
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