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Wireless Internet Finally Coming To London

Posted by timothy on from the connect-connect dept.

andylaurence writes: "NTL has issued a statement on their site of their intentions to trial highspeed wireless Internet access in London. They don't seem to know whether it will continue after the trial, but they have stated that it will cost £25 a month (the same as their cable modems). One would assume that this will be based on an 802.11b network, and the questions will then arise as to how secure this is. Another company also seem to be pioneering wireless Internet access this month, with a trial due to start soon. Seems to me like this might just take off." Wait -- I thought London already had wireless access.

3 of 115 comments (clear)

  1. You're a bit off the mark there. by Dr_Cheeks · · Score: 3, Insightful
    You're not British, are you?

    We've only been putting photos on driving licences for a few years now (I forget when they were introduced, but it was =5 years ago). Most of the population still doesn't have them. Furthermore, IIRC you can't be hung for treason (e.g. burning bank notes) anymore, though this law was rarely used when it was in place anyway.

    To be honest, the monarchy only has a symbolic power over the government. Technically, the monarch has the final say in which party gets elected, but I don't imagine they'd be too popular if they tried to go against public opinion. And we've got rid of monarchs before after all (search for British Civil War).

    You are, however, pretty much spot on about the prevalence of CCTV - I hear us Brits (particularly Londoners) get our picture taken by these cameras more frequently than most Americans. And our government seems to be just as willing as as the US one to eat away at our rights.

    I know you were only joking (or at least both I and the moderators thought so), but I just felt like being pedantic.

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  2. It can't be 802.11b by barnaclebarnes · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Because in the UK that spectrum is only allocated to non commercial use. You cannot setup a commercial wirless network in this spectrum.

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    [Please type your sig here.]
  3. Why ntl are doing this by ducasi · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The key to understanding this announcement is that ntl own all the transmitters up and down the country that are used to transmit all non-BBC television and radio.

    If ntl can get this trial working in London, they should be able to roll other the service nationwide.

    This would beat anything done on any cabled (both cable TV and phone lines) service, and be cheaper too.