A Discomforting Precedent For WiFi "Hot Spots"

Posted by timothy on Wednesday August 7, 2002 @02:30AM from the ineffables-rule-the-day dept.

rob.sharp writes: "The BBC have some history lessons for wireless networks ...", pointing to an article about a wireless phone service called Rabbit, which relied on access areas similar in concept to the WiFi "hot spots" ISPs and business are experimenting with around the globe right now. ("Subscribers to the service, backed by Hutchison Whampoa, could make mobile calls when they were within 100 metres of a Rabbit transmitter.") Rabbit didn't work out well, though, and the article questions whether 802.11 access providers can do any better.

1 of 121 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Re:Mobile Phones are not for this technology by RatFink100 · 2002-08-07 02:44 · Score: 3, Informative

Guess where that technology comes from?

In the UK at least DECT phones (digital cordless) are the direct descendant of the Rabbit phones.

Remember this was 1989. Real mobile phones were cumbersome and very expensive. This was an attempt to make them more widely available - albeit in a less functional form.