A collection of recent articles describes how Wi-Fi internet is going to bring with it many benefits, but it will first have to overcome the opposition of telephone and cable companies.
Free Phone Calls
According to eBay's chief executive Meg Whitman, within a few years, customers may be able to make telephone calls for free, with no per-minute charges, while the carriers make money on advertising or transaction fees.
This statement was made during a discussion of eBay's purchase of web-based communications phenomenon Skype Technologies. The company is hoping that by combining electronic markets, online payment systems, and Web-based communications, it can become a leader in all three areas.
Skype allows members to make free Web-based calls to each other, and has more than 57 million registered users. EBay believes Skype's growth will drive down voice communications costs down to nothing over the next three to six years.
Rural Wi-Fi
One major hurdle in the growth of Voice Over Internet telephony, however, is the inconsistency of Wi-Fi availability. So it's interesting to note that a desolate area in Oregon has become the world's largest Wi-Fi hotspot, a region that stretches over 700 square miles.
Wireless projects in more metropolitan areas have been stymied by telephone and cable TV companies, which have spent large amounts of money lobbying state and local governments to pass bills aimed at discouraging competition.
In the country, however, large corporations see little profit potential, which enabled wireless entrepreneur Fred Ziari to build a $5 million wireless network, at his own expense, without restrictions. Already, the network has revolutionized the way business, emergency planning, and police work are conducted, along with many other businesses and services.
Ziari's network is free to the public; he is recouping his investment through contracts with city and county agencies and larger businesses.
Even as Wi-Fi hotspots continue to increase, with more than 70,000 currently registered around the world, only a very few major cities have complete Wi-Fi access across their entire area.
Different Approaches to Wi-Fi for Cities
However, a handful of municipalities across the nation using a variety of approaches to introduce full-coverage Wi-Fi, in spite of the opposition from the telephone and cable companies. Rio Rancho, New Mexico, has a solution employing a network of 400 access points, while Manassas, Virginia, is employing a broadband over power line (PBL) approach.
Madison, Wisconsin is getting their citywide Wi-Fi, with the help of a firm supplying real-time automated meter reading for the utilities industry. It will be installed at no cost to the city, as the providers have secured initial funding from service agreements from ISPs.
Even in the face of corporate opposition, municipal wireless networks are expected to grow by 128 percent annually by 2007.
Wired News October 16, 2005Yahoo News October 20, 2005TechWeb.com October 21, 2005
Dr. Mercola's Comment:You had to know something was up when with the future of your phone service when eBay was willing to pay $4 billion to purchase the Voice over IP company Skype a few weeks ago.
Over the past ten years SBC (new name AT & T) and Verizon have spent tens of billions of dollars building telecom empires so they could dominate the industry and, without question, currently dominate the industry as together they control nearly two-thirds of all residential phone lines in the US.
But the Internet WILL change all that and these companies are not prepared for it. They will lose 40% of their land line residential customers over the next ten years. This week's NY Times also reported how the smaller Internet providers, like Earthlink, are battling these giants.
It is becoming increasingly clear that your connection to the Internet will replace your phone service. The key will not to have a cell phone or a land line but an Internet connection. Because if you have an Internet connection, you will be able to get your phone service for free.
Now I am not talking about connecting your desktop or notebook into an Ethernet cable, but using a wireless connection, in many ways not very different than your cell phone. Currently the wireless internet is restricted to WiFi which is only good for hundreds of feet. However, that will soon change when WiFi is morphed into WiMax and your connection will be good for 25 miles or more.
You can start to see the trend. Google has offered tomake San Francisco wireless last month, and now Philadelphia and as the article aboverural Oregonare close behind.
Lobbying from cable and phone providers have stymied many projects in major urban markets across the country. Philadelphia's plan to build a citywide WiFi network sparked state legislators (prompted by phone and cable companies) to limit every other town in the state to do the same thing!
The biggest obstacle to creating these cheap wireless networks isn't the building of them, according to experts. According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, it's more a matter of "who's-going-to-get-a-piece-of-the-action?".
What Does All This Mean For YOU?
One thing you can be certain of is change. So please be careful about signing any long term contracts with your phone company as it with virtually near certainty I can assure you that the future of your phone service will not resemble anything you have seen in the past and, best of all, odds are very high it will be free.
Next week I will be writing about the cell phone carrier that has just signed a long-term contract with the US Defense Department that seems to secure their position as the leading cell phone carrier in the US.
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