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Sell Your Wireless Bandwidth
BilSabab writes "Yahoo! News is reporting on the release of LinSpot 1.0 for Mac OS X. Linspot enables users to sell access to their wireless network to anyone who enters the hot zone." The software is free, but LinSpot takes a cut of the action.
I'll just continue using my neighbor's cable internet for free.
This sort of ties in with the ideas of Robert X cringely, which can be read here:
For Love Not Money: How WhyFi can turn hotspots into a real industry
and
WhyFi Not? - Bob Defends his Wireless Networking Idea
Yes, I realise WiFi, not WhyFi - those are the titles.
This is NOT the best sig in the world, but this IS a tribute to the best sig in the world.
Please be sure to read the EULA that came with your cable or DSL high speed connection. Oftentimes a high speed provider will prohibit the reselling of bits of the connection.
Be aware people. I'm surprised something like this is even available...
The article is a little light on the details, but who exactly would pay for this? In my apartment building there are about 4 wireless routers that DO NOT restrict connections. I guess no one bothered to properly configure their easy-to-use linksys/netgear router. So why pay for it when you can get it for free?
..oh yeah, it's probably wrong or something...
What they don't make obvious is you can only sell your bandwith with your CPU acting as the access point. You can't just setup your Air Port base station and rake it in.
From the LinSpot FAQ:
The other information in the FAQ is very telling, including the telltale "Investment Opportunity" section that is present in the websites of so many dubious businesses.
I would caution any user against attempting to use this application. There are several good alternatives that are not difficult to set up including using NoCatAuth with a micropayment system. Since LinSpot happily handles the billing of the users for you and then sends you your 'share' later, you'll really have to decide whether or not you trust them to do the right thing, since they do not seem to be forthright in their other business practices.\
At any rate, this software hardly deserves a "1.0" release or attention on slashdot. It could likely be a scam, though I have no evidence to beleive that it is anything more than a really dubious, hacky, misguided implementation of someone else's good idea.
- My ISP wants my bandwidth usage to stay within "reasonable" limits (under, say, 40 gigs one direction or the other) each month.
- There are good odds my ISP's policies don't allow me to re-sell my bandwidth.
- The local kine working-poor, little old Japanese ladies and feral chickens that make up most of the population of the neighborhood probably wouldn't take advantage of it anyway.
Maybe if I lived on a big street near a center of commerce or something... but I don't think folks are gonna sit around with their laptops at the fishing tackle store a few doors down and surf the web.With Sonic Hotspots, you get a special IP number routed to their VPN aggregator. None of the riffraff get on your network.
And just what sort of trouble will this get the (many) people in who have connections like Comcast, where you're not even supposed to share within your house without paying for extra IPs (yeah right), much less with neighbors and passers-by?
"Wow, you're like some kind of superhero able to ward off happiness and success at every turn."
-- Ryan Stiles
A lot of software (particularly Mac software) does this. " has detected that there is a new version, would you like to download and install it?"
Sometimes it gives a brief description of what's new, and it can almost always be disabled.
I've got more mod points and GMail invi
....voluntarily sharing my wi-fi broadband as an act of good will to passersby?
At one of the stoplights the bus I ride stops at, there is a wifi network somewhere within range, and we generally stop long enough for me to get a connection, check my email, click the 'post' button, before we move on. There's no way I'd be able to click 'Pay', enter all my info, etc, while I was there - even if I wanted to.
I prefer to leave my wifi unprotected and make sure my computer itself is secure... the worst anyone can do is put files into my Guest shared folder, and I may be helping some geek nearby look up something on the internet in a hurry.
I've got more mod points and GMail invi
I doubt you'd even go to court. If you share your bandwidth, you are in fact an ISP. And if ISPs were liable they would have been sued long ago. I may be wrong.
Also, there seems to be a growing movement in many cities to provide free wireless access with complete anonymity. This will no doubt be a problem for the music industry as illegal file sharing will become rampant on these networks and, unlike Napster, it's doubtful the courts will close them down as their primary purpose is non infringing.