Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Re: Mobile hotspots. Created to get more green our of your wallet.
It only added $10 a month to my bill. As for free WIFI, I guess you missed the thread where I got yelled at for using free WIFI all over the city. $10 a month keeps 'em off my back.
The whole point of DSL was to implement a high speed networking connection across traditional copper phone lines. The limitation, which is due to the nature of using cabling that wasn't designed for the task, is that you can't be that far from the POP (telephone company's "point of presence" - usually a small, windowless building with no signs and very little human activity).
The last time I checked, most large businesses and practically all cafes offer free Wi-Fi.
In addition, many cities offer it in their tourist districts.
Actually, this morning I bought a phone card at Walgreens. I went back to my car to activate the phone, but I needed to have a WiFi connection, as 3G does not work when you are out of minutes. Walgreens seemed to lack a publicly-accessible WLAN, but the Taco Bell across the street had an open Wi-Fi connection. I drove into their parking lot and quickly re-activated my phone. Oh well, I bought a burrito from them last week, I think.
What's interesting is that back in 2006-2007, almost all of the city was covered by personal, open WLANs, whose owners either were too lazy, stupid, or generous to secure their connections. I'm not saying it is ethical, but from practically anywhere in the area with human habitation you could pull out your laptop, connect to their network, and do whatever you wanted...perhaps even hack into their desktop or print documents on their printer. This all changed when phone and cable companies began to secure their customer's routers by default.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
11,334 posts, read 26,144,837 times
Reputation: 3996
Quote:
Originally Posted by swagger
The whole point of DSL was to implement a high speed networking connection across traditional copper phone lines. The limitation, which is due to the nature of using cabling that wasn't designed for the task, is that you can't be that far from the POP (telephone company's "point of presence" - usually a small, windowless building with no signs and very little human activity).
When USWest originally offered 640kbps RADSL in the Twin Cities (they gave me a Cisco 675 router which I still have in a box somewhere), they did a line test for customers to see whether or not you could use the service. I seem to remember the term DSLAM used, which may be another term for POP. Worked just fine on the twisted pairs we already had installed, even in the apartment building I was living in at the time. We had to put little cylindrical filters on the phone lines, tho. It wasn't bad compared to a V.34+ PPP connection.
So please tell us, in your opinion why can't a phone company offer DSL without upgrading the lines first?
They can and they do!
You need new lines because you live to far away from the CO or POP (haven't heard that one Swagger, but it sounds better then CO. . My ATT guys always called it the CO but you described it perfectly... big windowless building lol).
Cleveland, Detroit, NYC, Miami.... these cities were NOT rewired for DSL.
Back on topic: still waiting for OP to weigh in on where he lives.
I wish people would use the LOCATION field. Hmmm. Where have I heard that before?
When USWest originally offered 640kbps RADSL in the Twin Cities (they gave me a Cisco 675 router which I still have in a box somewhere), they did a line test for customers to see whether or not you could use the service. I seem to remember the term DSLAM used, which may be another term for POP. Worked just fine on the twisted pairs we already had installed, even in the apartment building I was living in at the time. We had to put little cylindrical filters on the phone lines, tho. It wasn't bad compared to a V.34+ PPP connection.
When our phone company did their upgrade to DSL. They ran fiber trunk lines to each township they serviced, at the terminal point is a set of DSLAMs. From the DSLAM they ran new shield cable to customers. How good it works depends a lot on how far you are located from your DSLAM.
Ideally, I should be able to go into nearly any public place and find a Wifi connection. I don't expect it to be free. Companies like Boingo have unlimited plans for as little as $10 per month. I might be willing to go as high as $25 if I wasn't limited to the occasional coffee shop or restaurant.
Why?
Quote:
Originally Posted by wrcousert
I see tons of signals, but nearly all of them are locked. It seems like a good opportunity for someone to create some sort of business out of all these wireless routers.
From Comcast's Service Agreement: You agree that the Service(s) and the Xfinity Equipment will be used only for personal, residential, non-commercial purposes, unless otherwise specifically authorized by us in writing.
So, it's basically against the service agreement for one thing, unless you have some sort of written agreement between you and the ISP.
Secondly, people lock their WiFi signals because they don't want someone mooching off of their bandwidth, downloading stuff that might be illegal, or opening themselves up to their shared documents and files on their networks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wrcousert
Why aren't the ISP's more interested in Wifi?
OK, this is a very very broad question. Most ISPs I know of provide some sort of WiFi options for their customers, but most people know that all they need for WiFi is a wireless router hooked up to their DSL box or Cable modem and boom.....WiFi! Now, if your question is more specific as to why ISPs don't offer WiFi in public places, I guess you have to look at cost verses profit of that. Most people have smartphones nowadays, and most smartphones allow you to turn them into hot spots themselves, so really, the majority of people already have what they need to stay connected in most any place, save for some really, really rural area for cell phone service is limited.
It depends where you live. Around here, most public places have wifi coverage (either free or included with your ISP's subscription). Even our parks have Wifi.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
