After Three Years Of Wi-Fi, Hurdles Remain

Thu, Apr 10th 2003 4:31pm — Mike Masnick

Computerworld has finally noticed that, despite all the hype surrounding WiFi, there are still plenty of hurldes to keep it from mass acceptance. The biggest one, they claim, is the security issue - but solutions seem to be coming along pretty quickly. Then, of course, there is the "business model" issue for those setting up the hotspots, which we've discussed previously. Again, this is the sort of thing that is likely to work itself out over time (though, there will clearly be some failures littering the road). As I'm currently posting this at a hotspot location in a city on the other side of the country from where I live, I can attest to the last problem: finding hotspots. I'm currently in NYC, one of the "most wireless" places on the planet, and finding a working hotspot wasn't nearly as easy as everyone makes it out to be. There are various lists and directories, but none of them seem very comprehensive, and all the ones I used gave me information that wasn't accurate or complete.

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Filed Under: wifi, wi-fi