A Wireless End Run Around ISPs
by Volker Weber
Broadband subscribers can use simple Wi-Fi gear to share their connections with neighbors -- and "warchalking" spreads the word. Information architect Matt Jones, posted a set of rune-like symbols to his Web site designed to alert Internet users when and where wireless broadband was available. The idea: Create a set of international road signs to the Internet. Two half-moons chalked on a pavement or a wall indicate that a connection is available. A full circle informs would-be surfers that the node is closed.
"We're joking that a piece of chalk could destroy the entire multibillion-pound 3G [third-generation wireless] industry," laughs Jones. But this could be anything but a joke. "The telecom industries are addicted to the one-wire, one-customer philosophy, which means that growth in use directly equates with growth in direct user fees," warns Clay Shirky, a professor at New York University and an expert in network economics. "If it suddenly becomes easy to share broadband with anyone within a [1,000 foot] range, then, as with Napster, you have quickly and easily lowered coordination costs. And it's only coordination costs that make it possible for the big guys to make money of each and every user."
Comments
Recent comments
Nick Daisley on Meeeeeeeeeeep at 15:42
Nick Daisley on Meeeeeeeeeeep at 15:34
Christian Tillmanns on Meeeeeeeeeeep at 08:41
Wolfgang Siebeck on Nokia Belle is available at 05:58
Ingo Martinz on Meeeeeeeeeeep at 22:32
Axel Koerv on Meeeeeeeeeeep at 21:57
Roland Dressler on Outlook to Notes converter: from PST to NSF at 11:50
Karl Heindel on Outlook to Notes converter: from PST to NSF at 10:30
Jerry Preissler on LibreOffice vs Apache OpenOffice at 13:47
Mariano Kamp on How to commit at 09:41
Bernd Vellguth on Outlook to Notes converter: from PST to NSF at 02:05
Thilo Hamberger on Outlook to Notes converter: from PST to NSF at 16:40
Jens Bruntt on Free PlayBook for your Android app submission at 11:47
Karl Heindel on Outlook to Notes converter: from PST to NSF at 20:26
Roland Dressler on Outlook to Notes converter: from PST to NSF at 15:12
Stephan H. Wissel on heise online: IBM plant Stellenabbau in Deutschland at 08:38
Jan Lauer on heise online: IBM plant Stellenabbau in Deutschland at 04:13
Juergen Heinrich on Balance at 03:29
Jörg Hermann on Girls On Longboards at 02:42
Stephan H. Wissel on heise online: IBM plant Stellenabbau in Deutschland at 23:21
Joerg Michael on heise online: IBM plant Stellenabbau in Deutschland at 21:01
Ben Poole on Outlook to Notes converter: from PST to NSF at 19:46
David Hablewitz on BlackBerry Business Cloud Services with Microsoft Office 365 at 16:44
Patrick Picard on RIM tries to be social. Falls flat on face. at 16:00
Volker Weber on Outlook to Notes converter: from PST to NSF at 10:29
Click here to subscribe
Post a comment