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WiFi Killed the Internet Star
I am wrapping up a magical WiFi wireless Internet journey. I am still here in Newport Rhode Island on a business trip and I have been having a lot of fun with my new eMachines laptop.
I have heard a lot of hype about WiFi but besides a demo at an Apple Computer store in the UW district of Seattle I have never actually used WiFi until tonight. I have seen 20 and 30 something high tech black t-shirt clad Internet nerds clattering around on notebooks in cafés that I think had WiFi Internet access. Yesterday I pick up a Linksys Notebook WiFi card for about $55 and the most evil of all retailers Wal Mart. The Holiday Inn Express hotel I am staying at has an Ethernet cable in every room next to the desk. They did not offer a WiFi network but they had a damn good reason not to. If you ask me a fat Internet pipe free in every room is a lot more attractive in a hotel than Sex in the City on HBO on the hotel TV.
The official WiFi alliance website has a sub-site that lists public WiFi Access point all over the world both free and charge. They had one hotspot listed for Newport and it was in walking long distance. I felt like a walk so I loaded up my Notebook in my backpack and headed our for a quest for a WiFi Internet access point in this small New England coastal town.
First headed down to the local Starbucks café and being from Seattle I can never turn down a cup of overpriced coffee.
Starbucks is the world leader of semi public WiFi access points and it is one of their more brilliant ideas. I can pop into any Starbucks in town and pop my WiFi card into my laptop and get on the net at near cable modem speeds for 6 bucks for an hour. Now this is nice but it is a bit pricey. McDonalds is messing around with a prototype program in some New York stores where you get an hour of WiFi net access for the price of a fat filled burger meal.
That is a bit better but in a city like Seattle I can name tons of cafes where I can pop in and get a latte and they offer free WiFi net access for all who pass by and come in regardless of if they pay for it or order a drink. Now this is smart because it is a relativly cheap way to attract nerds to your place and offer them quality caffinated beverages at the same time. Like the Bauhous Cafe, Cyberdogs, Zeitgeist Cafe .
Providing a WiFi hotspot is not totally free. There is the cost of a DSL or Cable Modem line then the cost of the monthly fee and the WiFi Wireless router. But that boils down to $200 in hard ware start up costs and $35 a month. What kind of business would do that? Lets see bars do the same thing with cable TV and sports. Just show me one sports bar that is not full of big ass TVs and I will show you a sports bar that is close to Chapter 11. I don't think the whole pay for WiFi is such a good idea because it is using the outdated Telephone and cell phone business plan. If it is free WiFi can be a intellectual person's sports bar big screen TV and will pay for itself in the nerds that it would attract.
WiFi should thrive wherever people gather to read learn and relax. Like the library and schools. I just found out that the Kitsap Public Library near me is setup for free WiFi so I can head there and sit under a tree and work on my site rather than sitting in my apartment.
Sure I can go days with out net access with out going into withdrawal and I still have damn fast net access at home but there is something SciFi and appealing about being able to get on the net wirelessly in public.
But the Starbucks here in Newport is behind the times and does not have a Wifi system set up!
So I spent the good part of an hour walking around this street trying to find the bed and breakfast that has a public accessible WiFi network. It took me about four false tries until I struck pay dirt. I was standing outside the Hydrangea House Inn and was able to get a strong and fast WiFi connection. So I sat down on the stone planter surfed the net for about a half an hour. I checked my email and read my favorite blogs, watched a movie trailer at Apple.com and downloaded a song off the net. What song did I pick to be the first transmitted to me over WiFi?
Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles
I heard you on the wireless back in Fifty Two
Lying awake intent at tuning in on you.
If I was young it didn't stop you coming through.
Oh-a oh
They took the credit for your second symphony.
Rewritten by machine and new technology,
and now I understand the problems you can see.
Oh-a oh
I met your children
Oh-a oh
What did you tell them?
Video killed the radio star.
It is really promising that the quality is so good considering this is a first generation technology and I can't wait to see how cheap, fast and easily accesible WiFi networks will be in the not to far future.
Jake at May 21, 2003 
WebDev
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Comments
Heard the parody 'MP3 killed the Media Star'?
Posted by: l33t k1w1 at May 22, 2003 12:04 AM
if i had a cafe (which i will one day), i would offer free WiFi...only makes sense to me, especially w/the way people are addicted to both the 'net and coffee...:-P
Posted by: Lilly at May 22, 2003 7:10 AM
I was in Newport RI this summer on my boat and they had a good WiFi service- http://www.Broadreachwireless.com
It was like $7 a day and worked throughout the harbor/anchorage and into the main street in town. I was there in July.
Nate
Posted by: Nathan at October 14, 2003 7:59 AM
