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The Assassination of Wi-Fi

Posted by Zonk on from the sniper-has-range-on-the-target dept.

justelite writes "John C. Dvorak from PC Magazine has up an article looking at the new strategy of American cell-phone-service companies. From article: 'There is mounting evidence that the cellular service companies are going to do whatever they can to kill Wi-Fi. After all, it is a huge long-term threat to them. We've seen that the route to success in America today is via public gullibility and general ignorance. And these cell-phone-service companies are no dummies.'"

2 of 258 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Security. by GoMMiX · · Score: 4, Informative

    Poor security didn't stop cellular adoption.

    That aside, the article is off-base in my opinion. WiFi seems more likely to become a boost to cellular usage - expanding networks and lowering costs for providers. (IE: They combine their cellular service to work with WiFi VOIP - when a customer is in WiFi range, calls go over cheaper VOIP - when no WiFi is available it goes cellular.)

    I believe there was a related article a couple of weeks ago where Google (?) was petitioning the FCC to require cellular networks to open their services to competitors - my speculation at the time was that they wanted to offer a full WiFi VOIP solution where you had cellular service when no WiFi was available.

    To make my babble short, I think WiFi will expand cellular usage - not the other way around.

  2. How YOU can save wifi! by Bob+Cat+-+NYMPHS · · Score: 4, Informative

    Go here

    http://www.fon.com/en/

    get a damn wifi router, stick it on your cable/dsl (they give them away sometimes, too, but a few $ is worth it), now, you can get wifi from everyone else who is sharing their 'net.

    I can walk a few blocks in most cities and get online. Help us (and yourself) out, m'kay?

    --
    The latest Slashdot meme.