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Project Rainbow - 802.11 Across the U.S.
rakerman writes "IBM, Intel and a number of wireless services operators are considering building a wireless data network across the U.S., according to the New York Times."
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Does that make anyone else think of a gay pride parade slogan? I'm not homophobic, just stating what popped into my mind! I do think it is a pretty good idea, as long as MS doesn't force them to use their new 802.11b secuirty implementations they claim they are releasing later this year... Although I doubt this will succede. A lot of people have interference problems in their own home, let alone cross-country. Anyone care to come up with an estimate on how many base stations would be needed to cover all the US? I bet it's a lot!
today is spelling optional day.
id like my phone to work everywhere first!
if they cant do that how are they ever going to do this?
I want 2D games back.
Sure it would be cool to have the long promised everywhere, everywhen connectivity. But aside from the technical issues (e.g. what version of the standard), it's difficult to see us getting anywhere close to the point where enough people are willing to plop down the requisite amount of monthly $$'s to make this viable.
Pick a number: $50/month, $100/month? How much are you willing to pony up for patchy wireless internet connectivity primarily in relatively heavily populated areas? Consider that even broadband penetration seems to have plateaued to a large degree in the areas where it is available. Not everyone's willing to pay $40-$50/month for better computer access.
It'll be the same as when DSL and cable started becoming more popular... people will have to learn how to protect themselves. Even my parents know what a firewall is, now... (it's built into that old computer on the floor in the basement that doesn't run windows and keeps their recipies and email safe)
My sig sucks.
They should be worried about getting a real 3G cell network off the ground first.
Then we can do all those things with more flexibility than what is mentioned in that very short "article."
This is what scares me. My friend just lost his father to a cell phone impaired driver. I can just imagine what this would do.
I'm all for wireless (have 802.11b at home now), but I fear things like this would happen (yes I know the parent was intended to be humorous). I'm just not sure what could be done about it. I like personal freedom, dislike too much gov't regulation, but don't trust in the intelligence of my fellow road warriors. Any ideas?
"Always do what you are afraid to do." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
That's what I'm afraid of, soon manufacturers will start producing pager, cell phones, and laptops with no way to turn them off.
Personally, I like, no I revel in being disconnected on weekends and after hours. I turn off my cell. I turn of my pager. I work on my laptop as it was meant to be used, on my lap in a lounge chair on the back deck with a big ol' glass of lemonade.
At this point, I can still tell my boss "no, I didn't get your email, I didn't have internet access at the cafe." After Project Rainbow, I'll have to resort to "No, my laptop was off/ran out of battery". When they start making laptops with 24hr batteries and no power button, I'll have to tell my boss the truth- I DON'T WANT TO CHECK EMAIL ON WEEKENDS. IT'S MY TIME, LEAVE ME ALONE!
-- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
802.11 networks are springing up for free, from Maine to Seattle. Well, free as a few hundred bucks per node.
So, inevitably, someone's figuring out how to make us pay 50-100 bucks a month for something we could have for free.
Q: will this wonderful pay network interfere with the free radio nets?
It makes me rather sad. I was hoping an alternative internet would be born in the airwaves without busybodies charging for it and guvmint trying to control it.
Can't we have anything that big business players and government will keep their damned hands off?
The interesting part of the story in the NYT was that these jokers specifically said that they wouldn't be delivering services to neighborhoods. That's because they have their terrible, overpriced, underserviced cable services there already and wouldn't want to compete with themselves. The jerks.