AT&T And Cometa End Relationship
Cometa has been one of the most overhyped WiFi plays from the very beginning (despite their own claims that too much hype is dangerous). They are the company, after all, that leveraged their apparent "relationships" with Intel, IBM and AT&T to turn a completely "me too" business plan into one that got press coverage everywhere. Of course, they've done little to live up to any sort of expectations, making huge promises on the number of hotspots they planned to create - which it seems unlikely they'll meet. Now, one of their big partners and investors, AT&T is apparently pulling out of their relationship with Cometa to offer their (not so many) hotspots to customers. Now, it's not likely that Cometa was getting much business via AT&T, but it does suggest that the company is clearly having problems. When your own investor drops you as a partner, you know that something bad is happening.
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
