TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Verizon Pulling Plug on Free NYC Wi-Fi

Re: Verizon Pulling Plug on Free NYC Wi-Fi

Michael D. Sullivan (userid@camsul.example.invalid)
Sun, 01 May 2005 22:06:59 GMT

Lisa Minter wrote:

> Anyone know what the reasoning was on this?

> http://story.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050430/ap_on_hi_te/verizon_nyc_wi_fi

It's pretty clear from the story. They are introducing EV-DO 3G data
service on the Verizon Wireless network, and operating a free outdoor
wi-fi network that doesn't produce any revenue isn't exactly going to
be good for business on their new pay-to-use data network.

Also, I'm not sure how much use the wi-fi network gets. How many
people use their laptops while on the city streets? I tried to use it
once; there was a base station at the phone booth across the street
from a hotel I was staying at, but I got no signal from it. I got a
good solid signal from a hotel two blocks away that I couldn't use
because I didn't have a room number and password, and I got a bunch of
unencrypted signals from the apartments of people with cable modems or
DSL. I successfully freeloaded on one of those for a few minutes.

Michael D. Sullivan
Bethesda, MD (USA)
(Replace "example.invalid" with "com" in my address.)

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