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."
1. Spend millions install WiFi hardware at thousands of hotspots ....
2. Give away free Internet access at these sites
3.
4. Profit!
The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
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.
1) Educate folks to build free community wireless netowrks
2) Help them build it
3) Tie them togther
4) Enjoy
Personal Telco Project
"Making tomorrows today yesterday"
Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap! Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap! Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap!
I disagree; handing out free WiFi is a great business model, it's just that the wrong business is providing it. Instead of some corporation trying to make money by setting up large networks of hotspots, local coffee shops(or even chains) should spend $60-$100 a month to get a DSL line and WiFi router (I know the Speakeasy TOS allows for this) and let the local patrons use it for free. Coffee shops and cafes are favorite places to do work and relax and making the atmosphere/conditions more desirable are well worth the cost.
Worried about freeloaders? Then change the password on the AP every day, and print it on every receipt. Seems like a great business model to increase your customer base as a cafe.
Yawn.
Before even more people point out the flaws in their buisness plan, at least properly read the Slashdot post. It says for-fee, not for-free.
One problem we're going to have to deal with is that unless all hotspots are united under one brand, it's going to get kind of annoying to have to pay subscription fees to each different place you want to use, ie: $15 a month to Starbucks, $15 a month to McD's, $15 a month to Candlestick park. I'm against monopolization of any industry, but I'd take it here over having to subscribe to a different place everywhere I went.
in bed.
There are services that cost money to provide that are given away and the cost recouped either indirectly or as a markup in the overl price of other goods and services being offered.
With Free Community Wireless Networking the cost of backhaul and Equipment to cover a small area (commercial frontage, public use space, dwelling) can often be either recovered by increased biz or absorbed as the cost of being a good neighbor.
Just as Movie Theaters saw dramtic increases in summer time viewers with the inclusion of Air Conditioning so too are some biz and public spaces finding an increase base of use withthe draw of Free Wireless.
Living in Portland OR and being a part of the Personal Telco Project I can say this as a proven fact and not simply as some slashrot debate point. The places where we have nodes are seeing marked increases in their customer base. Several places we have put nodes in have become social centers for nomad laptop workers.
The problem with the Fee plans are that they simply will not wake up to the fact that customers will not pay for something that will quickly be seen on par with Lighting, AC, a glass of water, background music and those cool drink umbrellas.
Wake up Biz People....The writting is not only on the wall its on your bottom line.
Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap! Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap! Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap!
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.
Finally, somebody that understands the concept. Wi-fi is not a business unto itself, it's a value add service that is part of the package for a real business. Take the coffee shop example, who wants to spend 10 bucks to get online for 20 minutes while you drink a coffee you bought for $2 ? It doesn't make sense. On the other hand, the coffee shop owner that has wi-fi in his coffee shop will have more traffic.
For this business though, wide open access doesn't really do the job, because it allows non customers to use and plug up the internet pipe, which is why you need a controlled access sytem of some kind, ie a captive portal setup. problem is, mention 'captive portal' to your average coffee shop owner, and thier eyes go all glossy.
I've installed a couple of these for clients, and they love it. A simple appliance that they can use to control who uses the hotspot, but it doesn't have the fees associated with it like the mainstream ones do, ie no subscriptions. One client gives away the tickets to anybody that buys a meal, and the other one is selling them for a buck. They just printed off a bunch of the access tickets it generates, and keep em at the cash register.
Wi-fi is a value add to an existing real business, and most of the hotspot chains are realizing that. There's a lot more of them showing up on fuckedcompany.com than there is showing up in forbes....