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Joltage Powers Down
jbyter writes "Wi-Fi service provider Joltage sent a e-mail to subscribers that read "It is with regret that I am writing to inform you that Joltage will be discontinuing its Wi-Fi subscriber and provider services effective at the end of this month." This could have been very cool, but due to economy and lack of subscriber participation they are no longer able to finance their operations."
Too bad -- this sounded like a good idea. The Joltage homepage isn't much help -- it's in place, but content-free. Any other Joltage customers who can comment on this?
(If you can call that work - they didn't pay at the time:)
It was painfully obvious that the idea would never fly, though i have to admit that it was a cute technical hack. The "grassroots" systems do not seem to be working in US of A. Years of "customer service" indoctrinated population here to rely on someone else to provide the service. So don't expect anything that requires people to provide initiative (or anything else aside from the cold hard cash) to take off this side of the Atlantic.
On the other hand it seems that in Moscow the only way to get broadband internet is by means of your local microprovider - either tenant organized or, at least, tenant supported. Being unaccostomed to others taking care of one's problems moves people toward self-sufficiency.
In case of services, such as networks and many others this is a great weapon against monopolies taking over.
I thought it was an excellent idea, and they had some great software too. Only took a few minutes of messing around to get it going. They also didn't *make* you charge anyone. You could be a free service provider and still use their software. They also had top-notch immediate support through a web-based chat system. Although there were not many provider's around ( only 3 in Arizona that I could see by their maps ) it was a neat idea. Maybe they could release the source ( if they haven't already? ) and this could be a great tool for free WISP's.