[LINK] The market for wireless

[Kim Holburn]

I have a wifi AP that has the capability, that allows it to broadcast a separate SSID as part of a thing called tomizone http://www.tomizone.com/ .  If you have a tomizone account you can access the internet through any tomizone enabled wifi router.

On 2010/Dec/01, at 10:13 AM, Birch, Jim wrote:

> Tom Worthington wrote:
> 
>> With NBN providing the wireless, I could take my cordless phone, or
> tablet computer, to visit someone down the road, or on the other side of
> the country.
> 
> How about a system where anyone can put up a public wireless point but
> with a small fixed per Mb charging mechanism?  No enough to make a
> killing but enough to cover cost of providing the service.  A kind of
> NBN-away-from-home option.  
> 
> This would require a login or key and router with a bit of validation
> logic.  Use obtains a key tied to their home NBN account and places it
> on their phone/tablet/whatever.  The key is used to validate the user
> and provide a change point for access.  This would require a smarter
> router and a central charge management system.  If you don't have an NBN
> connection you pay more but part of what you pay goes toward your NBN
> "future" connection.  If you never get a home connection your connection
> costs taper as you own more of a virtual point.
> 
> This would 
> - drive NBN participation
> - create ubiquitous low cost (but not free) networks.
> - support participants in a prosocial system, ie, where you get paid to
> provide a social good but can't charge monopoly rents.
> - AFAIKS the phone networks won't be able to support the mobile user
> data volume soon - if they can now.  And they're very expensive.  
> 
> The router code could be open sourced (or a standard) so that home
> router manufacturers could add it to their code base.  Obviously it
> would need to do stuff like isolating the outsiders from the local users
> and each other.  It would also need to track usage in a verifiable
> manner.  The NBN could sell a couple of options themselves but allow the
> market to provide.
> 
> Difficulties I see would be just getting it off the ground, validating
> charging and picking up any cheating, and validating users.  Turf wars
> could be an issue but the return to the router provider - and power
> limits - could be tuned to control this.  Current incumbents and rent
> seekers won't like it.
> 
> Is this possible, practicable?
> 
> - Jim
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
T: +61 2 61402408  M: +61 404072753
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