(2002-03-05) e

Paul Boutin identifies some of the Chicken And Egg issues in spreading WiFi coverage. I agree that the low range of a WiFi base makes ubiquitous coverage uneconomical - it will have to be driven by particular physical locations where there's an extra benefit on top of the WiFi revenue (e.g. StarBucks selling more cups of coffee because you're there longer surfing/working). I'm also concerned that the access points are at the mercy of the land-line access providers, just like the telcos put the squeeze on third-party DSL providers. This reminds me of the Paradox Of The Best Network.