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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?
For this to be popular, they would need some serious market saturation. I'm not going to try to find a joltage provider in my area, just for the 1/1000 chance to get cheaper bandwidth.
And the people selling their excess bandwidth would probably be breaking their agreement with their internet service provider.
It was just not meant to be.
No doubt a large part of the problem is that it is illegal to redistribute your broadband to people that haven't paid for it, as it should be -- the terms by which cable/DSL are sold are necessary to keep the costs down and the service available to subscribers. The ISPs aren't budgeting for our slack times to be used by 'passers-by'.
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
We'll see about that, Timothy. We'll just see.... ;-)
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Its sad to see when people with good ideas being a bit ahead of their time run out of resources to develop their idea into something really big.
I take off my hat for them for being one of the pioneers of something that clearly is a part of the future... GG
True ravers don't need drugs
I would expect a company with excess bandwidth to downgrade their lines and save money, not to give it to somebody else for a lower sum.
;-)
I don't think even incompetent managers get T3 lines to look "cool" when several T1 will do.
The ENIAC Demo Competition
What seems like a neat idea doesn't actually turn out to be economically viable. Is this dot-com bust #42587?
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
I think that's the problem... there weren't any other customers.
Please note that your local bakery takes up shelf space to sell their excess production at a lower price, rather than looking for a smaller rental space. In fact, they over produce a bit on purpose just so they can do this.
Not to mention that selling more for less consists of the entire mass market philosophy.
The point being that it's overall profits that count, not unit price.
KFG
aside from /. i have not heard a thing about this company. i guess we know why it failed.
Here are some of the (now obsolete, I guess) info pages they had:
http://joltage.com/jsp/home/joltage_network.jsp
http://joltage.com/jsp/home/provider_program.jsp
http://joltage.com/jsp/home/consumer_benefits.jsp
(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.
Okay, maybe I'm out of the loop on this completely, but how many people reading this story have actually heard of Joltage? I haven't before today.
It's good to use your head, but not as a battering ram.
MSN Inspectors
Checkout the title bar of this MSN search error page!
If you read this Wired story that was linked from the orignal Slashdot story you'll see why this failed:2 ,51353,00 .html
http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,138
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
I think that it is going to be hard for these pay services to grab hold because there are so many open access points.
A local cafe/coffee shop just put in free wifi. It is awesome to be able to sit down there and get some work done. It is now my favorite spot for business meetings.
Contrast this to paying $x/hr for a connection at Starbucks. I think that eventually many places like Starbucks will be offering access for free just to keep up.
There also seems to be a lot of community interest in providing access points in many public places. There are two places in the downtown area of my city where the city provides free wifi access. It's good for business and good for the community.
The cost of putting up an access point is pretty cheap. Coffee shops, hotels, restaurants, and other businesses will start to put them up as a way to attract customers. A lot of communities will be putting access points in public locations. There won't be any reason to pay. Businesses with the pay access will lose business to those who offer free access.
I thought for a second they were lowering the caffeine content of jolt. Yikes. What a nightmare, first diet Red Bull, now this??
I, too, was a Joltage hotspot provider (and subscriber), and was pretty familiar with the company. As such, I think I can answer a few of the questions that have been posted about these guys:
WHY DIDN'T ANYONE KNOW ABOUT THEM?
Actually, they started off with quite a bit of industry buzz, having launched at Esther Dyson's PC Forum last year. In the beginning (check the articles) they were getting almost as much press as Boingo, which started about the same time. The difference, however, is that Boingo had Sky Dayton (of Earthlink fame) plus tens of millions of dollars to use for marketing. Joltage, in contrast, was a bunch of smart and experienced, but very underfunded, wireless geeks.
DID THEIR STUFF WORK?
Yeah, it actually worked really well. The free hotspot software could be downloaded from all the usual sites (or their website) and turned any PC with an access point into a part of the network. The back-end system was very slick from both the hotspot and user ends, and seemed to work without a hitch. When people used my hotspot, the next month I got a credit through PayPal.
DID THEY HAVE A PROBLEM WITH LEGAL BANDWIDTH RESALE?
Actually, no. They always insisted (and were pretty serious about) having any participating hotspot use legitimate, re-saleable bandwidth. From the very beginning they had a deal with Covad, and eventually they added support from Atlas, Eureka and other broadband providers who offered Joltage hotspot providers fully Joltage-usable DSL for under $50/month. I think they were talking to the other big guys about getting permission for residential users to use bandwidth for Joltage, but I guess those things take time...and they ran out.
WAS THIS THING DOOMED TO FAILURE?
Anyone's guess, but I don't think so...unless you're of the opinion that any pay-for-WiFi solution will fail. Cometa is launching with the goal of having a hotspot less than a ten minute drive from most people. In contrast, there are over 15,000 existing WLANS in Manhattan alone (as an example). Even a miniscule percentage of those (mostly commercial, and thus usually re-saleable) hotspots participating at no cost to themselves, would have resulted in by far the best WiFi footprint in town.
HOW CAN ANYTHING RELYING ON MOMS AND POPS WORK?
Good question, and that's where they probably fell down. While I think that eventually there will be enough critical mass for a truly organic network, in the near term there just wasn't enough of an overlap between the early adopters with access points, and people with enough entrepreneurial spirit to try to set up a commercial hotspot...even if it was really easy, which the Joltage solution was.
SO, WAS IT ALL MOMS AND POPS?
No, and that ultimately could have been Joltage's salvation...maybe. By the end they were concentrating on supporting WISPS who had a real business incentive to set up hotspots, and some of those were really professional. Check out Urban Hotspots, SpotWIFI, WiFi Spain, and others.
WERE THEY DOTCOM DREAMERS?
Maybe, but at least they had viable track records, a lot of skills, and dedication. Andrew Weinreich, the founder, was the guy behind SixDegrees, and several of the tech staff came out of Scient and other good shops. The board/angels were big names in the industry, but I guess just didn't have the cash to keep it going. One thing's for sure, they ran a lean shop. The CEO didn't take a salary and the whole staff worked almost for free, in the hopes that they would be paid back on a financing. But for a low-budget shop, they treated everyone well. They even went out classily, paying up the last charges they owed me as a provider, and actually refunding me the unused part of my monthly subscriber fee! Good guys.
SO WHAT HAPPENED?
I think this was a combination of (a) a market where no one at all is generating revenues, let alone making money, yet and therefore needs (b) venture capital, which I gather isn't too available these days. Combine this with Joltage's early focus on a grass-roots model of what you might call 'enlightened economic self-interest' in a market which just wasn't ready for it yet, and you end up with a noble but ultimately unsuccessful business. Ah well. I wish all those guys luck; while they were around they ran a really decent company.
Dear So & So:
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. We will therefore no longer be able to support your operations as a venue for individuals to gain wireless access to the Internet.
Within the next several days we will be remitting to you any earned but unpaid revenue from previously billed subscriber sessions. From this point forward, however, we will no longer be billing subscribers for any future hotspot usage, and as such, we will no longer be accruing any revenues on your behalf. Your hotspot will now automatically enable free access by any former Joltage subscriber as well as new visitors. Please note that this is only a transitional phase, and that as of March 1, 2003, unless you take action, your hotspot will no longer permit Internet access sessions for wireless users.
If at this point you would like to open up your network to provide uncontrolled free to access to any visitors, simply uninstall the Joltage provider software on your host computer, by going to "Add/Remove Programs" in the Control Panel, and selecting Joltage for removal. Then reinstall your access point according to the manufacturer's directions.
Otherwise, to enable you to continue revenue-generating operations with the least possible disruption, I am enclosing a list of alternative back-end software and service providers, in the hope that at least some of their offerings will fit your needs.
Joltage was founded with the vision of offering individuals the opportunity to gain fast and inexpensive wireless Internet access almost anywhere, while providing a significant incentive to operators such as yourself to make wireless hotspots widely available. We still believe in that vision -- perhaps now, more than ever.
Unfortunately, it appears that it will take substantially longer than expected for the significant numbers of users we anticipated on such a network to materialize. And because of the difficult economy, we are no longer able to finance our operations as we had once hoped we would be able to.
All of us at Joltage appreciate your willingness to dream with us and hope that you are able to continue providing this valuable service to your customers.
With best wishes,
Andrew Weinreich
Founder & Chairman
Joltage