Slashdot Mirror
1 In 3 Home Routers Will Be Used As Public Wi-Fi Hotspots By 2017
An anonymous reader writes: Juniper Research predicts that at least 1 in 3 home routers will be used as public Wi-Fi hotspots by 2017, and that the total installed base of such dual-use routers will reach 366 million globally by the end of 2020. Major broadband operators such as BT, UPC and Virgin Media in Europe and several of the biggest cable TV operators in the U.S. such as Comcast and Cablevision have adopted the homespot model as a low-cost way of rapidly expanding their domestic Wi-Fi coverage.
they already are?
How will ISPs help enforce copyright laws if they don't know who is using your router?
COE
Even if the telecoms are not counting the public hotspot use against my caps, it could impact the performance of my network.
But mainly, it's the desire not to attract certain elements into my neighborhood who depend on free services. I wish I could find a pic of the hobo sitting in front of his tent in the 'Seattle Jungle' camp pecking away at his Apple laptop. Probably mooching off a local business' unsecured WiFi. It was run on the local news during a report on some recent drug murders there.
Have gnu, will travel.
1. Use your own modem. Your ISP should have a hardware compatibility list. Pick a model off of that list and you're good to go. I ended up picking one with no internal WiFi capabilities, because I had something better in mind.
2. I can't speak highly enough about the combination of a pfSense based router (I run mine on Netgate hardware) and Ubiquiti UniFi wireless equipment. I've got access points at opposite ends of my property to blanket the whole house and yard with WiFi coverage and it works very well. The AP's work cooperatively together, and I've been able to get creative about how I provide guest networking with this combination.
The other benefit you're going to get is that you'll reduce your bill by $10 a month.
My roommate won't discuss the monthly bill. I'm perfectly content with paying $20 per month for DSL service. But my roommate is speed maniac and pays for the privilege go into plaid.
This benefits the owner of the router how exactly?
In a competitive market, it would mean lower prices.
In a monopolistic market, it doesn't matter if the customer benefits, because the customer doesn't have any choice.
Seriously I just can't see it ever happening other than by it being forced on broadband customers, or it being the default setting on all routers and there being enough ignorant owners who don't know to turn it off.(kinda like the "all computers come with windows" model).
Even on routers that segregate wifi clients outside the LAN firewall, the charming person sitting in their car outside your house and surfing child porn sites is still doing so through your IP address. Good luck trying to explain that to the technically clueless judge.
Also the first time your netflix movie is laggy or you keep dying in your favourite online FPS because someone across the street is free-loading a significant chunk of your bandwidth is when you will turn off public access and leave it off.
Why disable it?? :) ). :).
My ISP router is like that, and if you enable the public hotspot on yours, you can use those of others too (which i find incredibly useful
And for security: all that router is allowed to do is have my decent router in its DMZ, and from there on i form my own network where i know exactly what devices i'm using
The "consumer" is defined as people who want the wifi, the people whose power bill is being leeched off .. well, tough.
I would think that a lot of people belong to both these categories - you spend a lot of time at home, but sometimes you travel to other places where pain-free WiFi would be useful. However, most posters here seem to be saying these two sets are totally disjoint.
10 cents per month? you must never have paid an electricity bill
Onda Technology Institute
You must never have done math. wifi chips consume 100-200 milliwatts, max, and that's under load. Idle is much lower. That's less than 10 cents a month, full tilt.
My current electricity cost is about 14 cents per kWh.
My router draws 1.6 amps at 10 volts, for 16 watts of power.
Plugging those numbers into this calculator gives me a max monthly operating cost of about $1.64, or a yearly operating cost of less than $20. And that assumes that it is drawing the max amount of power 24/7.
10 cents per month is probably still under-estimating the actual average cost, and you certainly have the right to bitch about having to pay any amount, but I'm really curious as to why you made the accusation that you did.
"I'm not sure I like the fugnutish tone you used in your post!" -RogL (608926)-
I'm sorry, what accusation?
Onda Technology Institute
For phone services, I would suggest looking into an OBi100 or similar device. http://www.amazon.com/OBi100-T...
This is similar hardware to Magicjack, but it works with whatever VoIP provider you choose.
I'm with voip.ms, which is $.01/minute billed in 6-second increments for all calls (in and out). There's an extra $1/month, plus another $1/month for 911 service. If you want caller ID names, it's an extra $.01/call, but only if it's not in the contacts you set up on their web page. There is a fee for porting numbers.
Another option is Google Voice. All calls (US/Canada) are free, but there's no caller ID names, even from your Google Contacts. Also, Google only lets you port mobile numbers, not land-line numbers, but people have managed to do it by first porting their cell phone to a prepaid cell. (I have our outgoing calls set to a Google Voice number, which can be a bit confusing for people.)
Stop making fun of Mr. Chekov!
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
I did not accuse. I speculated.
Onda Technology Institute
I've seen quite a few xfinity wifi spots around, but in order to use them they require my Comcast credentials. I never use them because I'm not sure if it's honeypot built to steal my credentials. I could install an app to confirm if the hotspot is real, but doing so requires giving Comcast invasive permission to access data on my phone.
But it's not uncompensated access. The principle of these systems is reciprocal. Company XYZ adds a second-channel to the WiFi access points and all of their customers can use them. So if you are across town and need to access the Internet, you can just connect. The compensation is in the form of you getting to use the other APs. Now we could argue that it should be opt-in, but it's not uncompensated. In fact, I'm surprised they don't make it op-in as most people would do so with glee.
Those who opt-in will be allowed to use all of the APs that are part of the service. Those who don't can pay for 3G/4G when they're not at home.