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UK to get Public Wireless LAN

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the start-running-ethereal dept.

shanksd1 writes "The IEE Review for May reports that BT is announcing the UK's first public access wireless LAN, with a little help from Motorola and Cisco. 400 wireless hotspots of range 100m should be implemented by June 2003, and 4000 by June 2005. These 500 kb/s access points will be located in hotels, railway stations, airports, bars and coffee shops."

4 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. Here's a better link... by RatOmeter · · Score: 5, Informative

    I couldn't find anything on the links provided above. Google found me this:

    BBC

  2. Re:We already have this in sweden...kinda by donnacha · · Score: 5, Funny


    We already have this in sweden

    Yeah, but I find it so inconvenient having to fly to Sweden to check my email.

  3. Re:yeah right its like bicycles by azzy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Actually.. Cambridge coucil 'recycled' old and unclaimed stolen(recovered or lost) bikes. Painted them green and left them around to be free to use. They were less likely to be stolen due to being obvious (green) and were very popular. And guess what.. theft of other bikes was reduced because the green ones were easier to steal. That was part of the whole thing. There was no real monetary loss for the green ones stolen.. and a gain because property of individuals was safer. It was a _very_ good plan.

  4. News? by barnaclebarnes · · Score: 5, Informative

    BT announced their intentions a while ago about getting into this space...The fact still remains that it is illegal in the UK sell 802.11b bandwidth at the moment (AFAIK). They are banking on the fact that the government will change the laws regarding this (It does seem fairly likely).

    Once the laws have changed expect a lot more public for-profit WLAN's to emerge.

    I can't wait until someone actually puts them in though. Broadband in public spaces is sorely missing. If BT were smart they would build a 802.11b/Bluetooth AP into every phone box in the country. You can already SMS/Phone/Internet access at all the new ones anyway, adding wireless would be a small cost increment.

    /b

    PS: It is legal to use WLAN in business in the UK but not to provide a commercial service from it. So having a WLAN connection in your cafe and chargin for it is not OK, having a WLAN in the office for staff to use is OK.

    --
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