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Advertising on a Free Wireless Network?

Posted by Cliff on from the anything-to-grab-those-eyeballs dept.

Mischievous0ne asks: "I had an idea yesterday, and I wanted to run it past the Slashdotcommunity. Would you use a honeypot (free wireless access point) that covered a large downtown area (3-4 blocks of restaurants, coffee bars, an iceskating rink, a small park, and general hangout) if you had to have a framed banner ad at the top of every page you visited while on the network? Do advertisers still pay for banner ads? Are banner ads, effective? I live in a college town in Indiana, and I know there are wireless users here, but the campus wireless network is severly limited. I'm also not sure how people would react to the banner ad space in exchange for free access."

2 of 400 comments (clear)

  1. A better idea... by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Step 1) In a major metropolitan area, set up a huge wifi network. Name it "GCN $50/mo 555-1212" where 555-1212 is your phone number and GCN is the name of your ISP.

    Step 2) ...

    Step 3) Profit!

    That's what some folks are doing in Mendocino, and it seems like it'd be a great service. I opened up my laptop in a friends house, and saw I was getting wifi access. I'd have paid them $10 for the weekend, easily.

    --

    There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
  2. Subscribe to get rid of the ads, and GPS use? by Brian+Stretch · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Offer paid subscribers the option of turning off the ads. That way, the cheapskate users can't complain too much.

    Neat GPS tie-in: click on an ad for a nearby coffee shop, send them your GPS coordinates with your order (paid by credit card or PayPal), and they'll deliver for a fee based on your distance from the shop.

    OK, maybe that's a bit too geeky...