Re: Wikipedia entry on XyWrite

[J R FOX jr_fox@xxxxxxxxxx]

--- Harry Binswanger  wrote:

> Patricia wrote:
>
> >>what happened to the idea I heard a couple of
> years ago about a new
> >>technology of miles-wide "hot spots" that were
> going to be available Real
> >>Soon Now?
> >
> >The companies that planned/started to do it
> discovered that the profit
> >margins weren't there.
>
> Are you sure? Why would it be profitable to provide
> the more costly local
> Hot Spots than a less costly (per customer)
> solution?

A variant of this subject came up in a conversation I
was party to, recently. I had been aware that a few
(mostly much smaller and high-tech involved) urban
areas had implemented -- or at least announced --
plans for sizable free wifi zones. This would be, for
example, places adjacent to Silicon Valley in N.
California or near Irvine in S. California's Orange
County. These areas have a lot of associated
companies and infrastructure in place. What they did
not count on was a statewide budget crisis with a sea
of red ink. So, how much of this remains in place or
just fell by the wayside, I do not know.

>From what I was hearing in this conversation,
Philadelphia (a much larger city) had big plans to do
something like this. It may not have been planned to
be entirely free for users, but more like very low
cost ? Apparently, providers came and went, and the
"business model" for this (involving some kind of
advertising support) just did not hold water. So now
the whole thing is in limbo ? Some of you East
Coasters probably know a lot more about this than I
do.


 Jordan