I'm sorry but I have an issue with this train of thought.
Access points that are intentionally not secured with filtering or encryption, AND are meant for municipal access usually if not always are made obvious via its SSID.
Granted there are beyond a ton of unsecured APs in this world, you should just keep your nose in your own business, and not connect willy-nilly to any free/open AP.
Finally, there will never be any legal precedent over "not connecting to APs you stumble across" as the 802.11x spectrum requires no licensing. So don't gripe about that.
Some repeaters are tied into the PSTN via public switches, essentially only allowing for one call and are funded by the local ham radio group or other organization. I know for example that the PSTN switch at my local repeater near Barre, VT had to be shutdown for lack of local funding but I'm sure in larger areas that such things may still be in operation, as they are very useful in times like these. As a short plug for Nextel, one feature on most new handsets is something called "Direct-Talk," essentially if you're without a tower / out of range you can still use the handset to place calls to other Direct-Talk capable users within an ideal range of ~4 miles. This is just something else to throw out there for conversation as there's many BETTER solutions than just deploying silly corporate WiFi hotspots.
Interesting bit to add considering what T-Mobile is doing with their hotspots; a smarter idea would be to set up essentially a tent with a long range 'net connection and a generator with several computers (read, laptop-style). Or if you're really starved for internet and you're a Ham op. Packet-Radio
Working for Nextel, I know what the costs are that are associated with putting up towers. However, having a background in ham radios, I know that setting up temporary cellular repeaters isn't a tough task. Especailly, with it being a large company such as T-Mobile, the costs of arranging a tempory repeater could easily be re-couped with the sales post-event. That's even thinking selflessly.
To add another tidbit, you can also place phone calls over Ham radio into the existing PSTN network if you wanted to contact loved ones, even if they were without a ham license.
It's not just the coverage that's an issue. Think of collisions on older networks that used hubs, WiFi access points are just wireless hubs and are extremely prone to collision.
Even if you have collision detection / avoidance, it will still happen and degrade the signal quality, and eventually make it very polluted.
Direct-Connect doesn't have to be as annoying as everyone makes it be if they used the privacy button. This disables the external speaker and makes it just like a regular phone call but utilizes the Direct-Connect feature.
Direct-Connect and regular phone calls are very similar but they do use different types of equipment in the backend. DC calls use dispatch mode for the handsets and is billed to the second instead of to the minute if the rate plan does not include unlimited DC minutes.
Certain handsets offer Direct-Talk, which is an off network version of Direct-Connect that works even if the phone doesn't have a signal from the tower. But then, you're limited to a four mile radius of contacting other Direct-Talk handsets.
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Access points that are intentionally not secured with filtering or encryption, AND are meant for municipal access usually if not always are made obvious via its SSID.
Granted there are beyond a ton of unsecured APs in this world, you should just keep your nose in your own business, and not connect willy-nilly to any free/open AP.
Finally, there will never be any legal precedent over "not connecting to APs you stumble across" as the 802.11x spectrum requires no licensing. So don't gripe about that.
Some repeaters are tied into the PSTN via public switches, essentially only allowing for one call and are funded by the local ham radio group or other organization. I know for example that the PSTN switch at my local repeater near Barre, VT had to be shutdown for lack of local funding but I'm sure in larger areas that such things may still be in operation, as they are very useful in times like these. As a short plug for Nextel, one feature on most new handsets is something called "Direct-Talk," essentially if you're without a tower / out of range you can still use the handset to place calls to other Direct-Talk capable users within an ideal range of ~4 miles. This is just something else to throw out there for conversation as there's many BETTER solutions than just deploying silly corporate WiFi hotspots.
Interesting bit to add considering what T-Mobile is doing with their hotspots; a smarter idea would be to set up essentially a tent with a long range 'net connection and a generator with several computers (read, laptop-style). Or if you're really starved for internet and you're a Ham op. Packet-Radio Working for Nextel, I know what the costs are that are associated with putting up towers. However, having a background in ham radios, I know that setting up temporary cellular repeaters isn't a tough task. Especailly, with it being a large company such as T-Mobile, the costs of arranging a tempory repeater could easily be re-couped with the sales post-event. That's even thinking selflessly. To add another tidbit, you can also place phone calls over Ham radio into the existing PSTN network if you wanted to contact loved ones, even if they were without a ham license.
It's not just the coverage that's an issue. Think of collisions on older networks that used hubs, WiFi access points are just wireless hubs and are extremely prone to collision. Even if you have collision detection / avoidance, it will still happen and degrade the signal quality, and eventually make it very polluted.
Direct-Connect doesn't have to be as annoying as everyone makes it be if they used the privacy button. This disables the external speaker and makes it just like a regular phone call but utilizes the Direct-Connect feature.
Direct-Connect and regular phone calls are very similar but they do use different types of equipment in the backend. DC calls use dispatch mode for the handsets and is billed to the second instead of to the minute if the rate plan does not include unlimited DC minutes.
Certain handsets offer Direct-Talk, which is an off network version of Direct-Connect that works even if the phone doesn't have a signal from the tower. But then, you're limited to a four mile radius of contacting other Direct-Talk handsets.
For sake of ease, "it just is."
If the person you are trying to reach is a Nextel subscriber, then you can dial 1-(area code)-(their exchange)-MAIL
Then it will prompt you for their phone number.
For example, my phone number is 1-802-839-xxxx
So the number to dial is 1-802-839-6245
I run Nextel credit checks for a living. Passing a Nextel credit check is much harder, and is practically the most stringent.