It's been years now that we've been hearing about how wireless Internet is going to become available everywhere at reasonable prices, or better yet, free. At the pace technology moves forward, it's pretty obvious that this concept is being stalled somewhere and, surprisingly to me, it's still going to be a long while before those statements even come close to being true. What we do have now is a mishmash of wireless services- some of it free (and barely functional along with being a security risk), the rest of it proprietary. Random hotspots here and there just don't match what's been promised for years.
The cell phone companies have started to embrace the technology, but only for their customers (duh). Having the proper hardware and service packages to make it really useful on anything other than a phone handset is still something few can afford each month on top of paying for wired service at home. Most will tell you that the quality of this service varies widely, where it's available. It's carrier dependent along with location dependent. I recognize that it takes time and money to build this kind of network -- but why would I spend premium bucks for a non-premium service? If I'm gonna pay, I want to work in northern Michigan as well as here in metro Detroit. As well as work throughout my house on multiple computers (at a comparable price to my cable modem costs).
There have been countless stories about county governments trying to make widespread wireless available -- only thing is, those plans are now at least two years behind schedule and show no signs of ever getting done. And again, I'm not convinced the free service they promise would even be worth the bother.
Because of my interest in radio and broadcasting, I can certain identify that medium as one that would face a serious revolution if wireless Internet became as transparent as FM signals are today. If the infrastructure was there, there would be a huge demand for devices to pick up Internet broadcasts in your car or anyplace else where you don't necessarily have a computer but still want to listen to your favorite web stream. It'd probably revolutionize phone service all over again too.
It's interesting that more progress hasn't been made on this front. Is it because wired Internet providers are providing enough value so that customers don't care enough to push it along? Are there still doubts about how many customers there would be? Or are the companies that could really push this technology along more interested in getting as much money out of their current wire-based services and just willing to wait for the next Google to come along to really force the issue?
The cell phone companies have started to embrace the technology, but only for their customers (duh). Having the proper hardware and service packages to make it really useful on anything other than a phone handset is still something few can afford each month on top of paying for wired service at home. Most will tell you that the quality of this service varies widely, where it's available. It's carrier dependent along with location dependent. I recognize that it takes time and money to build this kind of network -- but why would I spend premium bucks for a non-premium service? If I'm gonna pay, I want to work in northern Michigan as well as here in metro Detroit. As well as work throughout my house on multiple computers (at a comparable price to my cable modem costs).
There have been countless stories about county governments trying to make widespread wireless available -- only thing is, those plans are now at least two years behind schedule and show no signs of ever getting done. And again, I'm not convinced the free service they promise would even be worth the bother.
Because of my interest in radio and broadcasting, I can certain identify that medium as one that would face a serious revolution if wireless Internet became as transparent as FM signals are today. If the infrastructure was there, there would be a huge demand for devices to pick up Internet broadcasts in your car or anyplace else where you don't necessarily have a computer but still want to listen to your favorite web stream. It'd probably revolutionize phone service all over again too.
It's interesting that more progress hasn't been made on this front. Is it because wired Internet providers are providing enough value so that customers don't care enough to push it along? Are there still doubts about how many customers there would be? Or are the companies that could really push this technology along more interested in getting as much money out of their current wire-based services and just willing to wait for the next Google to come along to really force the issue?
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