Would you sign up for free WiFi?

[Undertoad]

Well good luck RS, it sounds like a really fun venture, which is more than half the battle IMO!

[Rock Steady]

The BPL site lists WiFi mesh as an alternative. All these local goverments are granting contracts to build out WiFi mesh and no protesters are showing up.

Inevitable.

In Jeffersonville, PA a woman tied herself to a light pole screaming "FCC Part 15!" The truck operator carefully used the cherry picker to raise to the top of the pole to install WiFi equipment.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Rock Steady

The BPL site lists WiFi mesh as an alternative. All these local goverments are granting contracts to build out WiFi mesh and no protesters are showing up.

Inevitable.

Tell that to the BPL guys in Manassas, VA.

And as I said...I don't have to climb a pole to express myself on this score. I just have to have the best signal on my own equipment...you can hang anything you like on the pole outside; if the neighbors can't use it because my licenced signal is swamping it, your Part 15 usage will have to "accept the interference".

You guys should be thinking about alternative transports; S-band WiFi isn't suitable for the "last mile"...it's more like the "last 250 meters". Meshing is all well and good until you hit local saturation, then it goes in the toity...and with ever-increasing bandwidth demands, that's not all that far away.

Maybe you should be considering the "broadband over gas lines" scheme. :-)

Of course, none of this matters if you've got enough VC money to keep you going to the IPO; then the music stops and everybody who can find a chair cashes out. Does your business plan tell you how many banner ads you have to sell to pay for and maintain an access point on every phone pole in town plus the associated backhaul?

[Rock Steady]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Tell that to the BPL guys in Manassas, VA.

As the site said, BPL is not WiFi mesh.

Originally Posted by MaggieL

And as I said...I don't have to climb a pole to express myself on this score. I just have to have the best signal on my own equipment...you can hang anything you like on the pole outside; if the neighbors can't use it because my licenced signal is swamping it, your Part 15 usage will have to "accept the interference".

So you would mess up the signal simply because you can? I don't see what you would gain by screwing around with a ligitimate business. Show up at the Jeffersonville city council meeting and raise objections before it happens.

Originally Posted by MaggieL

You guys should be thinking about alternative transports; S-band WiFi isn't suitable for the "last mile"...it's more like the "last 250 meters". Meshing is all well and good until you hit local saturation, then it goes in the toity...and with ever-increasing bandwidth demands, that's not all that far away.

They put the boxes 1,000 feet apart. My high-up friend at Intel told me that this is commodity technology that's cheap enough to make these networks feasible.

Of course, none of this matters if you've got enough VC money to keep you going to the IPO; then the music stops and everybody who can find a chair cashes out.

I don't appreciate your mean spirited comments when you inject them. It's as if I called you a "dyke".

Does your business plan tell you how many banner ads you have to sell to pay for and maintain an access point on every phone pole in town plus the associated backhaul?

This is getting into information I can't say because of NDA. After going over these details with the CEO, I was satifisfied with required number of impressions and Effective CPM to make this profitable. It seems like a realistic plan.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Rock Steady

As the site said, BPL is not WiFi mesh.

Didn't say it was. Was pointing out something very similar that was "inevitable" until the rubber met the road. BPL at least claims to not be transmitting...although that's of course not true.

You sure you don't wanna take another look at that "broadband over gas lines" thing? They claim to be absolutely serious...

Originally Posted by Rock Steady

So you would mess up the signal simply because you can?

You seem to have forgotten who has the primary allocation...if I found your for-profit unlicenced Part 15 use was interefering with my use of a band I'm a primary user of, I might very well adjust my licenced useage to make your squatting unattractive. Part 15 is intended for small, low-power, very limited area usage. Hanging a max legal power box (or have you applied for authorization to use more power than the Part 15 limit?) on every telly pole in town is not that.

Originally Posted by Rock Steady

Show up at the Jeffersonville city council meeting and raise objections before it happens.

Wrong venue. Municipalities don't regulate band usage issues (fortunately).

Besides, we've already seen how easily bought-off they are when the last snake-oil gang came through wanting a franchise. (Hello, Comcast!) Currently they're whining about how the Big Bad Phone Company (whom they refer to in commercials I'm paying for them to deliver to my home as "The Phoneys") and complaining that they "should have to compete in the marketplace". No, I'm not kidding, a cable company (though their rather transparent astroturfers) actually said that. I guess the satellite providers taught them something.

And you can thank both them and the Phoneys both for buying off the politicians to grab your exclusive franchise before you could get to them. I live in Pennsylvania...

Originally Posted by Rock Steady

I don't appreciate your mean spirited comments when you inject them. It's as if I called you a "dyke".

Well, we've all seen the Bubblehead act before...and I think that's much worse than "mean-spirited". If the Bubble V2.0 shoe fits your company, they should wear it. If not, then more power to them.

But not free bandwidth.

As for being a dyke, that's almost accurate. In fact I'm bisexual. But you can call me a dyke if you want; in your case I know it's just envy speaking. :-)

Originally Posted by Rock Steady

This is getting into information I can't say because of NDA. After going over these details with the CEO, I was satifisfied with required number of impressions and Effective CPM to make this profitable. It seems like a realistic plan.

I didn't ask you what the numbers were, I asked if they were part of the plan. So I'll take than answer as a "yes". It's all extremely sensitive to the uptake rate, of course.

[Rock Steady]

Thank you for conversing with me about this subject.

Originally Posted by MaggieL

... You seem to have forgotten who has the primary allocation...if I found your for-profit unlicenced Part 15 use was interefering with my use of a band I'm a primary user of, I might very well adjust my licenced useage to make your squatting unattractive.

If it interferes with your licensed use, you have a legitimate gripe. It sounded as if you just wanted to be a radio terrorist just for fun.

Originally Posted by MaggieL

... (or have you applied for authorization to use more power than the Part 15 limit?) ...

No, part of their philosophy of following the path of least resistance.

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Wrong venue. Municipalities don't regulate band usage issues (fortunately).

They control their lampposts. One can not just mount equipment on public property at will. Metricom proved it's uneconomical to rent private property to do this. The good thing is that it is very unlikely you'll get multiple overlapping providers bathing your neighborhood. The major players are conceding the markets to the muni contract winner.

Originally Posted by MaggieL

... I guess the satellite providers taught them something.

Then wouldn't you want Muni WiFi to teach them something about marketplaces as well? The home consumer would have many choices: cable, DSL, satelllite, WiFi.

Originally Posted by MaggieL

And you can thank both them and the Phoneys both for buying off the politicians to grab your exclusive franchise before you could get to them. I live in Pennsylvania...

Yea, I just learned about the Pennsylvania thing. Philly is taken, and one can't make money in Pittsburgh anyway .

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Well, we've all seen the Bubblehead act before...and I think that's much worse than "mean-spirited". If the Bubble V2.0 shoe fits your company, they should wear it. If not, then more power to them.

You are accusing me of being a low integrity person just because I'm part of a Silicon Valley startup. I've resigned from two different companies that I determined had bad integrity. I've seen the Bubblehead act from a lot closer than you have and I can tell the difference between companies.

Originally Posted by MaggieL

... But you can call me a dyke if you want; in your case I know it's just envy speaking. :-)

Well, you got me there sister. Actually, if I switched, I would rather be a glam girl with all the trappings of makeup, fancy hair and clothing.

Originally Posted by MaggieL

I didn't ask you what the numbers were, I asked if they were part of the plan. So I'll take than answer as a "yes". It's all extremely sensitive to the uptake rate, of course.

What is most important is dividing up the ad inventory so that one can charge different rates based on the kind of web page the user is viewing. Eg, Run of Network might get $1 CPM, whereas PDA review pages might get $7 (actually from a real rate card).

One can reverse engineer demographics while maintaining user privacy through pages viewed combined with data from consumer services companies. You have a friend in the advertising business

[MaggieL]

So you work for this company. I assume they plan to pay you.

[glatt]

There it is, the last word.

No, wait. I just posted and screwed it up.

Damnit!

[Maui Nick]

Originally Posted by Rock Steady

Free advertiser-supported broadband via WiFi will be available in my neighborhood within two months. It's already active in other parts of the town.

They blanket entire towns with WiFi service. There are some cool spots where one would need a bridge to get better signal indoors. I drove over to the active area and did a bandwidth test and got about 500 Kbps - 700 Kbps.

They insert a banner ad at the top of the browser window.

Would you sign up for free ad-supported WiFi?

Given that one reason I use Firefox is for the Adblock extension which allows me to eradicate banner ads, I wouldn't touch this service.