Mark Evans

Life on the Other Side of the Digital Coin

So, my hunt for Wi-Fi in Bayfield, Ont. was finally successful as the public library offers free access.

What’s interesting is the library seems to be the place in town where most people go to get online. With a large retirement community that only needs occasional access to the Web, the library’s computer and its Linksys router meets the needs for many people who may not have a computer at home.

When I told the librarian how it was difficult to find Wi-Fi in town, she said so many people depend on the library’s Internet connection that there is much unhappiness when technical issues knock out its service.

So, what are people doing online? Mostly, e-mail and paying bills. No mention about Twitter, Techmeme, Facebook or Friendster.

What I found funny and interesting is the librarian told me that when people want to get online when the library is closed, they park their cars outside, and then jump on the wireless network.

You figure with this kind of demand, an enterprising cafe owner would offer free Wi-Fi to paying customers, or even a little CyberCafe.

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Tags: bayfield, wi-fi

The Death of Free Wi-Fi

It used to be that jumping on a free Wi-Fi network to check e-mail or do some casual Web browsing was easy. Most people didn’t lock down their networks because they were happy to share and/or they didn’t know how to do lock down their networks. Few people abused the privilege, and it was a win-win all around.

Today, it’s a different world. It’s increasingly diificult to find a free and open Wi-Fi connection. Most networks have the evil “lock” icon. This is all the fault of Linksys, Cisco and D-Link, which have made security on new routers far too simple to set up. What ever happened to the complex process of configuring a WEP password!?

Meanwhile, the media has done a great job convincing everyone that open Wi-Fi networks are just an invitation for strangers to download gigabytes of music, movies and porn.Unlike the credit card business that forgives its customers if someone else uses their cards without authorization, the ISPs - and, for that matter, the music industry - put the onus on the subscriber for whatever happens on their -Internet connection.

Then, you’ve got the bandwidth caps being quietly applied by the ISPs to “manage” their networks. Of course, it’s also a way to monetize their networks given the emergence of bandwidth-sucking video services such as Hulu and YouTube. When you have a bandwidth cap, there’s far less incentive to share.

What it means is the free ride is over. It was fun while it lasted but the party is being shut down. In it’s place, you have hot-spots run by the ISPs; services such as Boingo, (which offers access to more than 13K hotspots in Canada but, sadly, none in Bayfield, Ont.); the occaisonal independent cafe that offers customers quasi-free Wi-Fi to lure people away from Starbucks; and altruistic, but under-funded community groups that try to offer free Wi-Fi.

RIP, free and open Wi-Fi; it was nice knowing you.

Technorati Tags: wi-fi

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Tags: boingo, cisco, ISPs, linksys, wi-fi