Yet Another Hotspot Provider Pops Up

from the who-needs-a-business-model dept

Tue, Dec 17th 2002 4:06pm — Mike Masnick

Well, it seems we've realized what the next incredibly overhyped area of wireless technology will be. Yet another company is announcing plans to create a nationwide network of WiFi hotspots. This one is called FootLoose Networks, and it's a subsidiary of Wireless Retail, a mobile phone retail chain. They say they plan to create a "carrier agnostic" network of hotspots, so that users can log in, no matter which carrier they have an agreement with. They're hoping that their current relationships with wireless carriers will help them in the market. It still seem that the various commercial hotspot providers are having an incredibly difficult time getting people to pay up when competing against all the free hotspots out there. With reports coming in that current T-Mobile hotspots are only find an average of seven users, it's surprising that so many other companies are jumping into this space. There are clearly business model issues that need to be worked out, and plenty of companies are going to fail before it's over.

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dorpus, 17 Dec 2002 @ 4:23pm

What if
They've talked about transmitting data over ordinary power lines before. What if it becomes reality? It would spell a nightmare for anything wireless.

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- Mike (profile), 17 Dec 2002 @ 5:50pm
  
  Re: What if
  They've talked about transmitting data over ordinary power lines before. What if it becomes reality? It would spell a nightmare for anything wireless.
  
  How do you figure? You can already transmit data over ordinary powerlines in the home, and WiFi has won that market hands down. There's an advantage in not having to plug in.
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  - dorpus, 17 Dec 2002 @ 6:04pm
    
    Re: What if
    Why not just make more electrical outlets instead of installing expensive wi-fi equipment?
    
    Just a thought.
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lorenzo, 18 Dec 2002 @ 3:44am

why everybody negative about wi-fi hotspots ??
I'd be a customer, only if we had that in Italy, still law forbid it, though few spot are popping up here and there.

I know people who would be customers for professional use of it, so keen on paying it a right price.

and, after all, it s not very different from the business of providing POPs for dial-up access, only they have a phisycal location to manage rather than a "telecom" location on exchanges.

It ll become commodity, sure, but not before connecting a substantial share of the online population at a reasonable investment.

Am I too way out of reality ?
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- Mike (profile), 18 Dec 2002 @ 7:40am
  
  Re: why everybody negative about wi-fi hotspots ??
  I'm not so negative on wi-fi hotspots. I think they're great.
  
  What I'm negative on is the way the commercial providers have gone about setting them up. Right now, they're charging ridiculous fees for very little coverage. If it were about 1/4 of the price they currently charge, then it would be a lot more reasonable.
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Jim Thomas, 9 Aug 2003 @ 7:14pm

Hotspot Provider.
Looks like another company is out of the gates looking to grab some market share. Let's see if they stick around for a while???
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