Slashdot Mirror
Cometa WiFi Hotspot Network To Shut Down
Glenn Fleishman writes "The folks who announced in Dec. 2002 that they would install 20,000 for-fee Wi-Fi hotspots across the U.S. within two years ago reached several hundred locations in 18 months before shutting down today. Cometa Networks was funded partly by Intel Capital, and had AT&T and IBM's involvement in building the network. The firm resold access to its network, and urged partners to charge low rates, like $3 to $5 per day or $12 per month for unlimited access. Cometa lost its best chance for a big network last month, when McDonald's picked Wayport to build out over 12,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in the U.S." There's now an official press release up, with the CEO noting: "We do not think this reflects on the strength of the Wi-Fi industry or value proposition."
No, fee is different than free. Even the /. write-up said "that they would install 20,000 for-fee Wi-Fi hotspots across the U.S. within two years". I think the real issue with the business plan was that they expected people to pay too much for too little.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Everybody just read this dweeb's suggestion in yesterday's article!
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
i have to say that last summer, I was in NYC for MacWorld, and stopped in at a McDonalds to try out their new WiFi and stuff, got my value meal and a little card with a scratch off area and a access code under it, and went upstairs. I sat down, ate, and pulled out my PowerBook. It saw the AP no problem, connected right up, and when I launched Safari, it went right to my home page. no login or anything.
Now I know that it was a trial location, and this was possibly one of the reasons that McDs went with the other company, but I'm not so sure I'm sad that a company whose security on their APs was so lax to go out of business.
I mean, open APs are nice, but its really not in the public good, becuase they would have ended up getting abused for spammers and warez and such.
(and yes, it was Cometa, because the little card has their logo on it)
oh well...my $0.02
e to the pi i plus one equals zero
A better business model would be to blanket the U.S. with a WiFi services, and have a setup where someone can sign up and be assured that he has access wherever he goes that has a hotspot.
The T-Mobile stuff has two big problems- too expensive and not nearly enough hot spots. There is no way I'm paying their rates and only have access at Starbucks and a few select airport areas, etc.
By the same token, any business owner should feel free to offer free WiFi in the hopes of attracting more customers- it costs very little for a small business- simply corporate grade DSL and a bit of hardware.