New York To Get Free Wi-Fi Network Via Livery Cabs
AndyAndyAndyAndy writes "NYC may finally have a viable plan for free, ad-supported public Wi-Fi service. A company named LimoRes Car & Limo plans to roll out 1,000 cars with transmitters by the fall, and 20,000 by 2011, providing in-car Wi-Fi and externally with a radius of 200 feet. Each car will be able to support up to 16 separate connections. It may be a long shot to say this will provide complete coverage in Manhattan, but if each cab company in New York got onboard... although the brief article notes that the tougher regulation environment for taxicabs means that Wi-Fi won't be coming to Yellow Cabs any time soon."
So, you will have a fleeting connection as the cab whips by, dropping of a fare outside your $2000 a month NYC hovel...
No, but seriously, educate me: how will someone maintain a connection when the access point is always moving?
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
This makes about as much sense for users as trying to use (stationary) wifi hotpots from a moving vehicle.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
Now, you don't only have to worry about what your neighbors are doing on their wifi. A traffic jam full of taxis in front of your apartment will totally screw your wifi.
Over-wifi. It's a disaster waiting to happen.
You's seen it at Apple and Android announcements. They wifi is to crowded and somebody has to find an ethernet cable.
Unless they plan on parking the cars a lot, I don't see how this can be useful. Once the car goes down the block it will be out of range and the connection will drop. Won't matter if another one is behind it since it won't be the same connection so no auto-reconnect either.
Attention... all grammer nazi"s! Is they're anything; wrong with: my post,
A traffic jam full of taxis in front of your apartment will totally screw your wifi.
They wifi is to crowded and somebody has to find an ethernet cable.
SCARY!
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I'm willing to bet the barn that this fails. I'm not sure that any part of their plan makes sense.
so the cab drivers now have to shell out for 3g 4g just like how they have pay the CC fees for the readers.
From what I gather here, a user will have just enough time to get an ad delivered to them before the limo or eventual taxi moves away. The only way this would be feasible if there was some serious mesh network technology being used and a wireless client can hop transparently from limo to limo without interruption. 20000 eventual vehicles allows for some optimism, but that many transmitters introduces problems of its own. And the claimed 400 feet range is absurd and often difficult to achieve in even near-optimal conditions. Interference due to concrete buildings and other wireless clients and routers, and the general crappiness of wireless connectivity on many mobile computers (especially when power saving is enabled for battery use) lead me to believe this is just going to flop.
at least it's free wifi for people inside the car. But yea, it's a bit dishonest to call this free public wifi. I'm not sure if slashdot interpreted the article incorrectly or if the company is just really inept and actually thinks thousands of moving wifi APs will create a sustainable public wifi network.
Are all these wifi connexions safe for the drivers health when most of the cars equiped with these wifi boosters are parked in the same place?
The NYC subway system is also getting WiFi and cellular phone repeaters throughout the system. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20100803/bs_nf/74586 In about six years...
With 16,000 perfectly deployed connections to... how many million potential users? It seems like a long-shot to even get in line.
On the other hand, there must be a street level Google maps game in there somewhere.
unless they get open source drivers!
--- You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad- Neal (not Cowboy) Boortz
I don't see this working for anyone inside a building. Especially when a fair percentage of them are taller than the range of the vehicle's WiFi.
On the other hand, I could see people putting repeaters at street level that could boost the signal to/through buildings and surrounding ares. A repeater would be economical too being a one time expense plus a bit of electricity.
BTM
That was the turning point of my life--I went from negative zero to positive zero.
Keep in mind that the 200 foot limit is not just in 2 dimensions! Taxi's usually drive on (or near) street level, so, if you're more than a couple of floors up (or down), you won't be close enough to catch that WiFi signal. But, if you happen to frequent a location that has cabs lining up waiting for fares, you'd be "surfin' pretty"!!
I really hate when regulations slow down the progression of great technology advances. That would be so great in NY to be on wifi in a cab. People could get work done on there commutes to places.
http://www.thetechnologygeek.org
Typically, the limo waits for the passengers to come out of the restaraunt, bar, etc., so you would have time to log on. It's a start to a free mesh network that we should be working on. I miss the days of the BBS; when I discovered BBSes I cancelled my Compuserve account.
Free Martian Whores!
When the time came to discuss radio pollution of 200 feet radius with the FCC, they said:
"we will provide wifi to everyone!"
No-one will be able to use the service that drives away from you, but its a nice strategy to "sell" the externalities to the city officials.