Free Wifi Campaign
 

Please sign up if you would like free national wifi. http://gadgetshow.five.tv/campaign/wifi/

---------- Post added at 08:41 ---------- Previous post was at 08:37 ----------

Perhaps CableForum could start backing this coarse for free national wifi

Re: Free Wifi Campaign
 

huh? I dont understand why people should expect FREE wifi when for example you dont get free mobile phone service

Re: Free Wifi Campaign
 

Because setting up a free WiFi service is inexpensive in comparrison. Would only require a small spend and once its up and running, its not that costly to maintain.

If you're in a job where you are asked to travel around the country, or have to lodge in hotels and you use a laptop or other wireless device, you'll understand. At the moment, there are companies that are ripping people off left, right and Chelsea charging extortianate ammounts for sometime only minutes worth of WiFi access.

Re: Free Wifi Campaign
 

But there is still a cost to set up, maintain and to power. As i said you dont get other services for free so why should wireless be any different.

Re: Free Wifi Campaign
 

I suppose it could be argued that it would benefit the economy. Also, taxation is used to fund other things that not everybody uses. But generally, I agree that there is no compelling reason why one portion of the population should fund other people's internet access.

Re: Free Wifi Campaign
 

Aye, but in comparrison to those other services, its inexpensive to setup and maintain. These companies that charge large amounts are making a killing, with very little overheads.

The episode of The Gadget Show explained things a lot more clearly.

Its already setup and free in various towns in the UK, Manchester being one of them (or soon). Its been commonplace for years already in countries such as China and Japan and even various European countries.

Y'know, heaven forbid that the government in this country would actually ever provide us with a free service! :P (though technically of course, we pay for it)

---------- Post added at 13:23 ---------- Previous post was at 13:21 ----------

I could argue it would be a more worthwhile expenditure then some of the things our tax money gets spent on, but I hate politics, so I won't :D

Re: Free Wifi Campaign
 

I definitely applaud Manchester for their great upcoming efforts. :)

Re: Free Wifi Campaign
 

Free Wi-Fi is not a very good idea IMHO. Wi-Fi is not designed to cover all areas, it is a "campus" area network. Wait for WiMAX (metropolitan area network), which should start appearing next year and has ranges in the 10s of KM - that would be a far more worthwhile campaign imo. This will also push down the price of 3G data services. Eventually we will see fixed-mobile convergence.

Re: Free Wifi Campaign
 

I think if you think you'll have a range of tens of kilometres with WiMAX with the same sort of "open her up and go" idea, like you get with WiFi, you're in a dream world.

This VERY much depends on what sort of spectrum is used for it, and this will depend on regulatory authorities completely.

Anything above 2GHz and there's going to be a need for more base stations than are currently needed for 3G communications. That's a big ask, unless phone companies go for a voice-over-WiMAX idea.

Re: Free Wifi Campaign
 

yes thats one side of the coin, the UK people should be thinking FAR BIGGER though, i seems the minute FREE is used then its the usual 'why should we pay for others free use etc' and thats fine as far as it goes.

however thinking on a far bigger scale, what has the UK got left as regards manufacturing and hi value world class goods today?.

the govt since 1979 to the present day have sold off anything of real value, and the only mantra left is science and hi-tech jobs, that in effect means the whole UK needs to encurage investment in these hi-tech idea's or thats all they will ever be, a mantra.

the simple thing is , its perfectly possible to have a basic free and open wireless network for use by all, its the other services that will grow around this national open network that will encurage growth in the hi-tech options and services for this country and its people.

it could be done by the likes of Virgin media/BT etc if they were more into the long term benefits to themselves as well as the currently non-netted people of the UK, but they wont as theres no short term profit for the share holders, the govt could give them tax breaks i suppose (with strict rules for tech benfits,advancement etc).

so its down to the govt wanting/chanting this hi-tech mantra to at least put in place some form of free access to all people and law to protect that right of access.

id love to see a massive co-location initative around manchester airport and other lower income places around the UK to help encurage all things web related, theres a time to sell stuff and theres a time to give back to the long term good of this country, and now as good a time as any to kick it into gear.

UK co-location free zones were the UK could become a place to house the worlds servers to match the US cheap and cheerful server markets for one, we are far better served for linking into the new and growing EU and china fiber networks etc so lets encurage it right now.

plenty of profit for everyone once the basic network is in place and that can than finance or repay the initial outlay later.

taxs galore for the treasury then im sure.....

the basic free network could start at 512k/512k or a 1meg/1meg speed to encurage simple two way server sharing and everyone gets to play the innovation game, it might even start a UK trend to get better commercial upload ratio's ;)

---------- Post added at 01:12 ---------- Previous post was at 01:02 ----------

sure WiMax is GOOD, but dont dismiss WiFi just on range alone, it too, has its place , not least being adaptable to new wireless ranges at cheaper cost than the commercial licences that will no doute come calling with the analoge tv switch off, i assume thats why this campaign is starting NOW, so as to try and make sure that at least some wireless airwaves are used for the public good.

i think its would be cool to have average gran and grandad able to get on a basic web connection at no cost, and theres plenty of scope to make new low power kit that can be run off rechargable batterys and a cheap solor panel car charger (£25) if moneys so tight they cant put enough cash in the pre-pay meter every week.

cheap, hi-tech and green all in one LOL.

hell we could even forgive allan suger his amstrad video phone bt kits for this stuff and he could rebadge and re-engineer that crud for connecting to the free wireless kit at £30 a pop.

we might even get some real UK innovation by helping sir clive sinclair come out of the shadows and
put in place a far better board of directors so he could give us and the world some nice kit to export to everywere , he's a cool inventor but a less than good businessman so id like him to prosper from his past insight, he gave us the ZX81 and the spectrum, in effect starting the UK home computer business, got to admire that.....

remember the CB radio and how that grew the UK economy for quite a while ?, the same could be true for the second internet age, if ordinary people see/learn what it could do for them and the country as a whole then thats a good thing is it not?.

i wonder if the CB radio specrum could be adapted for digital wifi or is it still protected in UK law for general public use?.

as regards WiFI, did you know that with a standard £20 WiFi card, and some old sat dishs at both ends and some DIY skill you can get a point to point/multipoint connection from manchester airport to manchester central+ (10 miles + easy).

its all in the line of sight,hight and directional arials you use, techy YES, but DOABLE and cheap YES, right NOW by anyone willing to try, add in some basic mesh software and some wireless router bandwidth provision scripts from the many 3rd party free Linux firmware initatives and your all set to make a community lan of any size, its been done already in some places.

never ignore WiFI or the newest WiFi MiMo, once that takes over the current Community Mesh homemade tech.....

were will WiFi 11N take us the ordinary users, thats a good question to think about if we all work together....

Re: Free Wifi Campaign
 

Wifi is a good idea (theoretically) for metropolitan areas. The system in use in Norwich has an access point installed in every streetlamp. Most people probably live within 10 meters of a street lamp, so the 100m range of WiFi should be more than enough.

WiMax might be good for rural areas though, where it's entirely possible people live more than 100m away from their nearest streetlamp.

In both cases, one thing that might cause problems is the presence of existing WiFi networks. Having said that, given enough channels, most WiFi access points and Routers are fairly good at avoiding interferance.