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City should re-evaluate value of WiFi
Article published on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006 |
Re: Treasure Island goes slow on WiFi
Editor:
Local communities don’t need community WiFi. Most citizens and, apparently, most city governments, don’t have a clue of why it was developed in the first place or where it’s going in the future. Blissfully ignorant, Dunedin and now St. Petersburg it appears, are planning to jump on the bandwagon as we speak.
This is a very bad idea, because if you need WiFi in your home, it’s probably already in your new computer. And, with a few minor adjustments and the addition of a router to your DSL line, you can use your portable computer anywhere in your house or yard for free.
So now that we have eliminated most everyone who has a computer, who is going to use this $30-a-month community WiFi System? Well, not me. Today, if I so desire, I can take my laptop computer down to the beach where I can read my e-mail or surf the Net. Whether I am having a sandwich at Dockside Dave’s, or anchored between John’s Pass Village and Gators I can connect with the Internet for free.
There are a gazillion free WiFi signals floating around Gulf Boulevard and most probably the neighbors on either side of you. I would guess there are over 150 WiFi “Hot Spots” (called “unsecured networks”) between Clearwater and Terra Verde just on the boulevard. And unsecured means your little old laptop computer (if it was built after 2003) will automatically pick up each one of these free signals as you drive along.
Now, I know when you ask the question of people who should know better, the first thing they’ll tell you is that receiving WiFi from other people’s routers is against the law. This is categorically not true. If I don’t want someone to use my WiFi signal, all I have to do is make a simple adjustment and my “unsecured network” becomes a “secured network” blocking anyone from using it. And for those who will tell you using unsecured signals will allow hackers to enter your computer: Hackers don’t need WiFi to get into your computer. They can do it anytime and anyplace if they decide you have enough stuff worth looking at.
WiFi was developed several years ago by a group of IEEE engineers as the first step in a system that was conceived to become nationwide. In effect, each of us would be an actual link in a national antenna system. At present, WiFi sends out a signal that can only be received a distance of 300 feet. New systems are in the works which will broadcast 30 miles. Think of what that will mean to us. The entrepreneurs know this too and that’s why they are scurrying around to capture contracts for entire cities.
Has anyone even done a study to see if citizens in the local communities want to pay $30 a month for the rest of their lives for something they can have free? Wake up my fellow citizens.
Philip A. Bellefleur
St. Petersburg
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Article published on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006
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