All I Need Is $10,000 And A Grain Silo

from the taking-on-the-big-boys dept

There is a lot of hype around 802.11b (Wi-Fi) giving wireless carriers and their 2.5-3G plans a run of their money. Sure, there are small pockets of success. And we mean tiny, niche succeses. But 802.11b is much less a threat to wireless carriers than to broadband providers. Its a LAN and hotspot technology that runs over a noisy unregulated chunk of spectrum. It is not designed for use in phones or to provide the same coverage as cellular networks.
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  • identicon
    Neal R, 14 Dec 2001 @ 9:20pm

    Marlon is da man!


    They have some quotes from Marlon Schafer in that article ... I just got off the phone with him maybe twenty minutes ago.

    Marlon helped launch my WISP last spring. We managed to raise significant capital in this nasty market and I credit him with getting us over the initial fear of microwaves.

    I knew he was a big shot from reading the isp-wireless list on www.isp-lists.com but I didn't realize he'd become an international superstar :-)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Marlon Schafer, 14 Dec 2001 @ 9:30pm

      Re: Marlon is da man!

      Thanks Neal!!!!

      The funny part of this all is that I got into a heated discussion with an AT&T Wireless manager at the www.internet.com 802.11 confrence (in front of 300 people ;-).

      Lots of talk about G3 (and how it's at least a couple of years out in most markets). G3 will be a cool toy but who's going to surf and email on a 2x2 screen? Also, 2meg in 2 years will be like 512k now. Maybe worse. I'm already upgrading to gear that will deliver 4 megs and the new gear due out in 6 months or less will deliver 20 to 50 megs for the same prices we are paying today for the 4 meg gear!

      Anyone that thinks G3 will be any threat to the WDSL provider does not understand the broadband market.

      Wi-Fi roams man! Check out the cop car setup on my page! They love it!

      Also just planned a wireless security system for a farmer tonight. Complete with video (and if he wants it, sound)! They are far from doing that will cell technology ;-)

      laters,
      marlon

      link to this | view in chronology ]


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