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Aerie Reviving Ricochet Network

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the wireless-doesnt-want-to-go-on-the-cart dept.

lemmett writes: "It looks like Denver's Aerie Networks is stepping up to the plate and trying to make money with the Ricochet network. We'll see if their new business plan works any better than Metricom's did. From the article: 'Reducing both network and marketing costs and acquiring hundreds of millions of dollars in assets for a song means Aerie can offer cheaper service, which it plans to sell for $39 to $49 a month, according to Aaronson. If Metricom's strategy was to focus on high-end mobile users, Aerie's will be to provide commodity broadband to the many places DSL and cable modems don't tread.'"

2 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Perhaps this is because I'm not a business grad by martissimo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    actually it does make sense.

    the company that went bust did so because of the enormous cost of settin the network up in the first place. Theese guys now have the same network without the billion dollar debt associated with setting it up.

    It seems to be a common trend now, whoever sets up a large network like this goes bankrupt and whoever comes in behind em and takes over the fiber can clean up.

  2. Aerie: charge whatever you want! by burtonator · · Score: 3, Interesting

    OK.

    I was a BIG fan of my Ricochet before they folded.

    Did you know you can get 256k out of the Ricochet!?

    That is right! If you have USB and big UART patch, you can get 256k in optimal conditions.

    I would see 220-250kbps a LOT of the time.

    Since the fell, I have been stuck using 802.11b.

    There is starting to get *some* penetration in the market (mostly Starbucks) but 802.11 will not see the ubiquity that Ricochet saw.

    That and the fact that 256k *with* ubiquity (in major cities) combined with 802.11 really make the two a killer combination.

    So charge whatever you want! JUST GET IT WORKING AGAIN! I could seriously pay aroun $100 a month for this. Maybe more.

    JUST GET IT WORKING!

    Kevin