Paris, The City Of Wi-Fi?

TheMatt writes "An article at the IHT describes an effort to make Paris one big Wi-Fi hotspot. The project, with partners like RATP and Cisco, if approved, will place two or three antennae outside each of the 372 Metro stations in Paris and link them through an existing fiber network that runs through the subway tunnels. The current pilot project is centered along the route of Bus No. 38. You can sign up for access to the pilot which is free until June 30."

Comments

doubts

[selderrr]

I don't know how succesfull this can be... There are 2 potential markets (leaving kids with portables as a marginal marketshare)

- people of paris : why would they subsribe to such service ? They likely have a home in paris, with internet access a lot cheaper, more reliable and more secure.
- visiting bussinessmen : why would they subsrcibe either ? Most hotels have access for a reasonable fee, and are not subscription based.


Additionally, I seriously wouldn't want to sit with my portable open on a bench near a subway entrance in autumn/winter when it gets dark after 19:00. Subway stations are not exactly known for their safety, and walking around with a 2000Euro piece of electronics is asking for trouble.

Additionally, i consider it silly to first sit in the subway for 15 minutes wit haportable and no connection, and then finally getting out in the open where you have to sit again to connect. Wouldn't it be much better to put the base stations INSIDE the trains ?

Call me stupid, but my guess is that they'd better focus on appartment buildings : place a wifi hotspot on top of it, and you've got you whole building connected for low fee and without having to rewire the damd thing.

Re:doubts

[Usquebaugh]

Look up pervasive computing. Start to think outside the stupid screen/keyboard paradigm. If you have the infrastructure then the apps will come.

Re:doubts

[stefanlasiewski]

Look up pervasive computing. Start to think outside the stupid screen/keyboard paradigm. If you have the infrastructure then the apps will come.

Not always. There needs to be enough demand for your service

The American telecom industry built a hell of alot of infrastructure, and many of those companies went out of business because there was no demand for their service.

How many groundbreaking wireless companies have gone out of business in the last couple decades?

Personally, I have little desire to pay $30 a month to carry a WIFI computer around with me all of the time. The best thing about computers is that you can get away from them.

Wow, is it enough bandwidth?

[Musashi Miyamoto]

Does 802.11(b or g) enough bandwidth to handle that many people? Not that everyone has a WiFi connection, but when you provide ubiquitious access, the applications will be created that utilize it.

I don't think that 802.11 can handle more than a handful of users before it is swamped. I imagine that the city will be subdivided somehow so that broadcast traffic from one machine isn't repeated to every node in the city.