NTL - WiFi for NTL users

[zaax]

Now there's a thing. If i have a WiFi on my laptop why can't i connect to the internet? There are lots of NTL boxes about.

[AD] NTL boxes goto the next generation with WiFi. If your with-in 300 yrds of an NTL box you could be on the high speed net. The web when you want it.

[1] laying down 8

[Chris W]

Originally Posted by zaax

Now there's a thing. If i have a WiFi on my laptop why can't i connect to the internet? There are lots of NTL boxes about.

[1] laying down 8

:urm: slightly by your post! what do you mean why can't you connect? are you travel around and trying to connect using other peoples networks? If so it is probably because they have secured though so people trying to steal their bandwidth don't succeed.

If this isn't what you mean... then what do you mean?!

[zaax]

Originally Posted by monkeybreath

:urm: slightly by your post! what do you mean why can't you connect? are you travel around and trying to connect using other peoples networks? If so it is probably because they have secured though so people trying to steal their bandwidth don't succeed.

If this isn't what you mean... then what do you mean?!

Sorry. I was being a bit obtuse. NTL have a great system and they donââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t use it [1] †¦.
The next thing is WiFi phones & WiFi laptops (use the net anywhere - at a cost) very easy for NTL to do. But yet again they are starting to miss the boat - Orange 3G (sub. £40/month+t)

[1] fibre optics is now at 1M digital visual channels (March 2004 figures)

[Chris W]

Originally Posted by zaax

Sorry. I was being a bit obtuse. NTL have a great system and they donââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t use it [1] †¦.
The next thing is WiFi phones & WiFi laptops (use the net anywhere - at a cost) very easy for NTL to do. But yet again they are starting to miss the boat - Orange 3G (sub. £40/month+t)

[1] fibre optics is now at 1M digital visual channels (March 2004 figures)

ah hah, see what you what you mean. There was a trial of wireless broadband in London last year, but this finished and i don't know how successful it was or if there are any plans to do anything about it

[BBKing]

That trial is over and afaik there are no plans to go further with it.

Are you sure the OP isn't confusing the ntl/linksys wifi offers with ntl offering actual wireless? They give you wifi, but only in your own home on a standard 802.11b router. The boxes in the street aren't wireless equipped in any way.

What does the [AD] bit mean?

What does the [1] bit mean?

As for 3G I think one of ntl's better decisions was to get out of the race for licenses rather early...

[andygrif]

I might be wrong, but I think he means why doesn't the STB have a WiFi card in it?

It's a nice idea, but it seems a little wasted on most users - and of course then there's the extra cost to make them.

Surely it's more efficient to give users the option of buying additional hardware should they feel the need - plus of course there will be different requirements from different users - some will want 54A, some 54G but the most common will be 11mbps B WiFi.

Now assuming that most users will want 11B - that would be no use for me, as I'm 54G all the way!!

Originally Posted by zaax

Sorry. I was being a bit obtuse. NTL have a great system and they donââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t use it [1] †¦.
The next thing is WiFi phones & WiFi laptops (use the net anywhere - at a cost) very easy for NTL to do. But yet again they are starting to miss the boat - Orange 3G (sub. £40/month+t)

[1] fibre optics is now at 1M digital visual channels (March 2004 figures)

For some reason I can't understand your post m8, no matter how hard I look at it. Could you expand a little?

[BBKing]

I might be wrong, but I think he means why doesn't the STB have a WiFi card in it?

Hmm - I thought it was street cabinet, but it could be STB. No reason to add the extra cost to that though, considering everyone would have to have it but only a few would use it, plus it will be out of date in a couple of years.

[zaax]

I really must make more sense when I'm ****ed I believe I meant why couldnââ‚Ã⠀šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t each NTL cabinet be a wi-fi hot spot. Somewhat like the new Orange 3G wireless service (http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/April2004/6903.htm) or the blooming internet wi-fi cafes

Originally Posted by zaax

I really must make more sense when I'm ****ed I believe I meant why couldnââ‚Ã⠀šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t each NTL cabinet be a wi-fi hot spot. Somewhat like the new Orange 3G wireless service (http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/April2004/6903.htm) or the blooming internet wi-fi cafes

aaah - well, that's a very good question. The facetious reply is 'because that would require innovative, customer-focused thinking', which ntl appears not to do much of any more. In reality, they have no cash to spend on developing such a thing.

[andygrif]

Originally Posted by BBKing

Hmm - I thought it was street cabinet, but it could be STB. No reason to add the extra cost to that though, considering everyone would have to have it but only a few would use it, plus it will be out of date in a couple of years.

Oh yes...re-reading it, I think you're right.

Even so, I really can't see the advantage...I mean if you're that close to a street cabinet, then you can get a cable into your house with broadband, which is a far more elegant solution.

[BBKing]

Broadly my thinking too. I did come up with this idea a couple of years ago and put it to a senior ntl bod, but we both agreed that it would be better to do hotspots in places people wanted to hang around in, like trains, airports, hotels, pubs, cafes etc. The whole point of internet on the move is a bit dubious considering that at present you have to be sitting inside* somewhere fairly comfortable to get your laptop out and surf. That rules out walking about, standing on street corners and things (not to mention surfing while driving, which has obvious drawbacks).

The true gain comes of being able to find a hotspot fairly easily, i.e. when enough pubs/cafes etc. are hotspots that it's just like buying a paper - If I want a copy of the Guardian I can go to any newsagent, if I want wireless internet access I can go to any cafe.

*Why? Screen glare. I've used the laptop in the garden a few times and it's a nightmare if the sun's out.

[altis]

Originally Posted by BBKing

*Why? Screen glare. I've used the laptop in the garden a few times and it's a nightmare if the sun's out.

Almost all laptops use transmissive screens. With these, the light only passes once through the liquid crystal - from back to front. In order to be able to see the screen the backlight must be much brighter than the light reflected from the front of the glass. Unfortunately, direct sunlight is very strong!

A very few laptops (for example the NEC Versa Daylite) have a reflective screen. There is no backlight. Instead daylight passes from front to the back where it is reflected by a mirror and passes back the other way. The stronger the daylight the brighter the image but indoors the image looks dull and lifeless - particularly when it's on a shelf in a shop next to a transmissive screen.

There are also transflective screens which combine the worst of both worlds but I don't think these have found their way into laptops.

[Pea-Pod]

The new Sony VIAO has a backlight for it's laptop screen

[nate]

afaik, there is another test going on at the moment with wireless CM's.