Extracted item for information.
Source:NewsScan Daily, 27 August 2001 ("Above The Fold")
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'PARASITIC GRID' COULD UNDERMINE WIRELESS REVENUES
An underground movement is afoot to deploy free wireless access zones in
urban areas, building on the increasing popularity of wi-fi or 802.11b
technology -- a standard for wireless Ethernet that works on an unlicensed
portion of the spectrum. The movement, dubbed the "parasitic grid" by some,
is already thriving in New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Portland, British
Columbia and London. The concept is based on community-minded volunteers,
who offer other Internet users within a certain range -- say 300 feet -- a
"free ride" on their wireless connections. The trend is not going unnoticed
by the large wireless carriers in these cities. "We are aware of the free
services springing up and are considering 802.11b wireless access as well,
not in place of currently scheduled rollouts but as an adjunct," says an
AT&T Wireless spokesman. Meanwhile, so-called "aggregators" have developed
software that resides in the mobile device that can find any available
network and connect the user to it, creating, in effect, metropolitan-wide
free networks that may ultimately compete with fee-based wireless services.
"It would even be able to say, 'Here is a list of the networks found' and
indicate which are free and which charge a fee," says an official at a
company that provides 802.11b services at hotels and airports. (InfoWorld 24
Aug 2001)
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/08/24/010824hnfreewireless.xml
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