Free-Fi

The Free-fi debate

I'm with LameList on this discussion. And I think Doc's "Think of pay-fi as the Net's equivalent of the pay toilet" analogy does him a disservice.

The only "public" toilets around here that I can think of are either fast food joints, Best Buy/Borders/Home Depot type places and malls. The only one that can be seen as truely public would be the mall, since the stores ask that you buy something, but just don't/can't enforce it. With these exceptions access to the toilet involves making a purchase.

And, I think this is likely going to be the issue with Wi-Fi, you will end up paying some kind of fee to a provider that will allow you to roam around certain areas, similiar the the cell phone industry. Wondering outside of the provider's area will either result in a loss of coverage or being charged a roaming fee.

I think free-fi outside of the grassroots community will be rare and an exception. Yes, you'll see it in and around colleges and tech heavy areas to a certain degree. But, I think over time even that will slip in popularity and be replaced by pay networks when a provider based network gets going.

So, my take-away quote: Free-fi will go the way of freenets.

BTW, I love "free-fi. Its such a fun little word.

Posted by Matt at March 5, 2003 11:53 AM