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Ericsson: WiFi hotspots on the way out
Are the mobile vendor giants of the world back to bashing WiFi? At the European Computer Audit, Control and Security Conference in Stockholm, Sweden, Johan Bergendahl of Ericsson said the WiFi hotspots like the kind in Starbucks and hotels could become the telephone booths of the broadband era--you know, very out of place, if not completely extinct. However, those comments come not long after AT&T announced a new WiFi deal with Starbucks, and announced that its broadband customers could use its public WiFi hotspots for free. In addition, AT&T has entered the municipal WiFi market, building a network for the City of Riverside, Calif. If AT&T's moves are any indication, telcos may be warming up to WiFi strategically after years of only dabbling in it through resale. Meanwhile, the days of expensive public WiFi access may be coming to an end, but mobile broadband roaming, coverage and quality is still lacking.
The most bizarre part of this story is the final sentence, in which Bergendahl suggests some hotels may be blocking mobile radio signals to give themselves more opportunity to reap revenue from lobby and guest room WiFi. -Dan
For more:
- see this story at InfoWorld
Related articles:
- AT&T announced the Starbucks deal last month
Comments (4) | Post a comment
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Comments
Posted by Magnus Melander | March 11, 2008 - 3:15pm
An interesting prediction from a company who completely missed the Wi-Fi train coming and never understood what hit them.
Posted by Anonymous | March 12, 2008 - 1:32am
Delusional at best, a substance abuse problem at worst. He clearly is in need of an intervention....I'm not sure what kind of health benefits they hand out at Ericsson, but he should avail himself of the mental health benefits immediately - AND someone should review his job description to make sure he is allowed to speak in public. I guess that's what a 3rd rate cell phone company gets for it's money.......
Posted by WMark | March 12, 2008 - 10:21am
Ok, the first two comments look more like personal slams than anything else..not that I disagree with them entirely, but perhaps for different reasons..
First, remember that he's talking about PUBLIC hotspots here folks, not your home's 802.11 network. Carriers are not going to get into the "public" wi-fi business unless the economics make it feasible.
Most municipalities are dropping the idea of "free" hotspots because they finally figured out that it's not "free" and it costs more to maintain than they imagined. Carriers aren't going to pay for it either, especially when there are tower-based solutions on the horizon that do a much better job at a much lower cost (think WiMax). Some muni's are toying with the idea of "advertising-based" hotspots to bring in revenue, but let's face it...that means business risk, and when's the last time a muni was into taking business risks when the public isn't screaming for it?
AT&T's move at Starbucks and has to be viewed in light of the fact that they are woefully behind in broadband coverage and capabilities compared to their rivals and this is a great marketing scheme to pull more customers to their TOWER-based network. I wouldn't look for a whole lot more of these deals, since AT&T really doesn't want to get into managing a huge nationwide network of millions of hotspot devices and their backhaul.
All that said, Bergendahl IS off his rocker...hotels are blocking radio signals? How are they doing that? Replacing the windows with leaded glass? Installing illegal jammers at the same frequency as a laptop card? They have more financial success by eliminating the turn-down service and charging $12 for breakfast. Besides, their 802.11 networks are pretty swamped as it is and they don't want to upgrade.
Posted by Wade | October 6, 2008 - 8:06pm
I would suspect that the more likley scenario is that there will be a munber of competing technologies and business models and the ones that will thrive will be the ones that offer UNIQUE advantages such as wi-fi's ability to be thrown in for free with minimum purchase or in exchange for opt-in information. In less competitve markets or very popular locations, the location owner may wish to charge for access directly. Wi-Fi's unique advatnage is business model flexibility which is why I would suggest that it is indeed here to stay.
Wade
www.freewifihotspotsoftware.com
