[Wolves] BTfon - Can anyone make any sense of this announcement?

[Peter Evans]

On Tuesday 16 October 2007 05:36:34 Andy Smith wrote:

> An internet device does not have to be a laptop.  It is already
> frequently a mobile phone, and could in future be many other things.
> Ubiquitous internet access will change our lives, you may argue not
> for the better, but it won't likely be in the form of people going
> down the high street with laptops open in front of them.
Quite so.  Very much like mobile phones I suspect that if the capability is 
there then people will find a way to make it useful.  As you say, whether 
this is a good or bad thing only time will tell.

> At first of course it will be people sitting in pubs, bars and
> coffee shops using the Internet, but with a city-wide wifi network
> then all our devices could be online constantly.  As a simple
> example Google maps could know where you actually are (by the GPS in
> your phone) and so can just tell you where the nearest
> $THING_YOU_WANT is.
>
> Cheers,
> Andy
A nice example of an application that many could find useful.  But if people 
want this functionality would they not be willing to pay for it?  Let us 
assume for a second that they would.

But from my current knowledge there's not much (any) interoperability between 
the Wi-Fi operators, so I would like to modify the initial paragraph to 
read "ubiquitous, interoperable, wi-fi, internet access".  And if this was 
the intent of the OP then please accept my apologies for not understanding.

If we can draw a comparison as a consumer I would like to be able to pay a 
company for Wi-Fi access and be able to use this subscription/pay-per-use 
account regardless of whose access point I attach to. It's certainly 
complicates the billing process for the providers, but they've managed to do 
this in telecomms for many years?

From this perspective I see the partnership agreed between BT and Fon as an 
interesting step towards this.  Not necessarily the monopoly threat that 
others have alluded to.
-- 
Regards,

Pete Evans