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186
 
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Last Login: 11/04/2007 12:30:06
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The Future of UK Broadband made interesting reading. However, there was no mention of wifi and hotspots.
More and more towns and businesses are now providing wifi hotspots for free. The cost to a town council is minimal and has many advantages. It can encourage commerce and trade, bring people back into town and boost trade for local cafes.
I'm often asked how it is possible to provide a service that ISPs commonly charge £15-20 a month for. Well, as I said, a deal between a town council and an ISP could cost just under £100 a month. On top of that is the cost of the wifi equipment and aerials. Not a lot is it?
The downside is that users won't be accessing the internet via a familiar ISP with their portals and support. Nor with their free POP email accounts. Instead, you connect direct to whichever site you point your browser at. I have been enjoying free wifi access for nearly a year and my speeds are in excess of 4Gb downstream. It is also very reliable and there is no cap.
Many businesses, especially hotels and cafes, at least in my area, also allow their wifi to be used for free if you are within range. It costs a business very little to connect to the net in the first place so it makes commercial sense for them to allow potential customers to piggy-back on it.
An entire town close by is next month launching a free wifi service covering the entire commercial area and I can see that ISPs will soon become providers to businesses only, not to home users. Those living out of reach of towns and cities will still need an ISP of course, together with the attendant expense, but basically, for many of us, the future of broadband is free!
Brian Wall
Bournemouth
one year old - www.thevistaforum.co.uk
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Octo-core Atom @ 233GHz (ES)
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Many thanks for your comments. I'm glad you liked the article -- as far as it went.
Unfortunately, as with all commissioned articles, a writer only has a certain number of words to play with. In this case, the finished piece was already several hundred words "over-budget", and that was after leaving a couple of thousand other words on the office floor. One has to pick a focus and stick to it fairly rigidly. My focus here was not on wireless networks -- there simply wasn't enough space to even entertain getting sidetracked down that avenue.
Word counts are the bane of every writer's life, sadly. Somebody will always think you've missed something out. Really, half of the skill in being a writer is being able to stay focused and cram as much as you can into a confined space without losing all sense of style and readability. Most articles are a compromise of one sort or another.
That's my excuse, anyway, and I'm sticking to it! 
(And welcome to the forums. I'm happy the article seemed to at least encourage you to become a member!)
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286
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bwallx's thoughts would make for a great follow-up article. Try pitching the idea to Mr Brew...
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