Wireless Is Hot

from the access-anywhere? dept

A pretty good article in the NY Times looking at some of the companies that are trying to provide wireless access anywhere where anyone with a laptop can just hook into the network. For the most part the companies are focused on providing them in coffee shops, at airports, and in hotels. Mostly they're using 802.11b systems, though there are some threats of standards battles. Of course, the article doesn't mention my favorite, which is Metricom's Ricochet, but that's because they're in trouble. While 802.11b is cool, and fast, I can't see how the coverage would ever equal what I get with my Ricochet which is "fast enough" for most things I'm doing right now. I'm surprised that Metricom is having so much trouble raising additional funds while these other companies get all the hype.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    nowhere, 22 Feb 2001 @ 10:08am

    Anywhere??

    I bet that Anywhere == LA, SF and NY plus a couple of other places. Not exactly my definition of anywhere!!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Rich Middendorf, 22 Feb 2001 @ 12:58pm

    Wi-Fi

    Metricom has botched the roll-out of their incredible service. Of course, technically, they've done a great job of building out their network. They haven't done a very good job of marketing their service. Poor PR and dreadful advertising, that obscures the product with a mindless story of two dweebs getting free from the office via Ricochet. If there ever was a case for a simple product demo, this is one. They should just let the technology talk in the advertising. Their subscriber rates would go up, revenue would go up, along with their stock price. Then raising additional funding would be a snap.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    Mike (profile), 22 Feb 2001 @ 1:29pm

    Re: Wi-Fi

    Yeah. That's a good point. I almost feel embarrassed by the Metricom advertising I've seen. It's awful. And, yet, the device and service is extremely cool. I also think they made a mistake in pricing it too high to their resellers (who then have to price it even higher). Despite it's additional benefits many people compare it to the pricing they'd have to pay for a DSL line and a worldwide dialup - which turns out to be lower. I think if they dropped the price a little bit they could get much wider adoption rates.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.