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Start-up wants free spectrum for free Wi-Fi
By Larry Hendrick | August 16, 2007
This is a unique approach to gaining bandwidth from the Federal Government. It probably won’t work, but interesting non-the-less.
Not seeing their business plan, but watching what is happening in the Wifi world in the United States, my guess is they will burn through a ton of capital, then pop like the preceding tech bubble.
Even though they aren’t asking for cash to implement the project, they are asking for millions (maybe billions) of dollars of wireless spectrum, with the caveat to pay the government a commission on sales.
Now that’s a deal I wish I had with any of my previous businesses, or my current one. Spot me a few million, and I’ll give you a percentage of any profit I might turn in the future.
Doesn’t that sound like the 90s tech promises? And we know what happened to those great ideas. Let’s just say … I’m a little skeptical on this one.
Start-up wants feds to decide on free Wi-Fi plans | CNET News.com
The “free” service, supported by ads, would actually require purchase of a “M2Z reception device,” which the company said could cost as much as $200 when first unveiled. It would offer speeds of at least 384Kbps down and 128Kbps up. By comparison, the major DSL carriers’ advertised “starter” plans offer downstream speeds of 768Kbps. (Muleta claimed his service would be comparable, citing data showing that in reality, those companies rarely surpass the speeds M2Z would provide.)
M2Z also plans to offer a “premium” service, at an unspecified cost, that would allow subscribers access to 3Mbps speeds.
Topics: WiFi |