Flagler Beach, Florida

Another public-private Wi-Fi initiative has been launched, this one in Flagler Beach, Florida, between the city government and Bright House Networks, the area’s dominant cable operator.

The Wi-Fi network will provide consistent wireless access to the Internet in the downtown business and beach areas, running approximately from Highway 100 (Moody Blvd.) south to 2nd Street and from Highway A1A (Oceanshore Blvd.) west to Flagler Avenue.

City and local tourism officials celebrated the launch of the Metro Wireless Network in Flagler Beach by suggesting it will be a convenience for tourists looking for broadband access.

“It’s also a boost for tourism because promotions that are targeted to bring visitors to the area can tell them that they can connect during their stay in town and don’t have to fish around for access,” said Doug Baxter, president of the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce & Affiliates. “Everybody is stuck to a computer these days. (The free wireless service) is a lure.”

The service is creating some mild controversy in Flagler Beach, where residents have learned “free access” is provided on an unlimited basis only to existing customers of Bright House Networks’ Road Runner broadband service.

Non-subscribers will be granted two hours access per day, but that access is contiguous, not cumulative, meaning the moment one logs into the system, the two hour allowance starts running.  Checking your e-mail first thing in the morning assures when you log on later in the day, your free time will have expired and you will be told to purchase additional time.

The price?

1 hour – $1.95
1 day – $4.95
1 week – $14.95

All pay services are also sold in contiguous blocks of time.  For example, the one hour access fee expires one hour after paying for the service, even if you did not use the service for an entire hour.

JJ32, commenting on The Daytona Beach News-Journal website:

How exactly is this a boon for the tourism industry when tourists can only use it for two hours, or have to pay for the service? This also isn’t unique. Other money-hungry cable companies (looking at you AT&T) have this in other cities, and it looks like Bright House Networks has now joined this notorious lot. I agree that wireless access in public areas is important, but I am tired of pro-cable company press releases saying how much they’re doing for the community, when in reality they’ve just discovered a new way to rake in revenues.

Some area businesses are also unimpressed.

Carol Fisher, owner of the BeachHouse Beanery, said she isn’t likely to promote the city’s service. That because the coffeehouse’s customers can access the wireless network she’s provided for some time, Fisher said, and there are no hoops and hurdles or fees.

City officials are widely distributing a flier explaining the service in greater detail to residents and visitors.

Canada is a victim of Internet Overcharging, with virtually every major provider limiting access to broadband, throttling speeds, and charging overlimit penalties for exceeding arbitrary limits. Now Cogeco, which itself engages in these schemes for its residential broadband service, has made a breakthrough of sorts.

Cogeco One Zone, available only to users of Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch, provides 802.11g WiFi across the One Zone WiFi network for only $5CAD a month. One Zone, acquired last August from Toronto Hydro Telecom, operates within a six kilometre region in the downtown core of Toronto. Users discovering the service report it can achieve speeds of up to 7Mbps, and there are no data consumption limits or contracts.

Any iPhone/iPod Touch user who accesses the network within range will automatically be taken to a special sign-up page to begin service. Cogeco One Zone’s offer represents a major discount off the pricing being charged to other One Zone WiFi users:

1 Hour
60 minutes of continuous access
$4.99 + GST and PST

1 Day
24 hours of continuous access
$9.99 + GST and PST

1 Month
Continuous access to same date in following month
$29.00 + GST and PST

(All prices are in Canadian Dollars)

So why has Cogeco decided to practically give away the service?

“Our expectation is that users won’t be using it for downloading video and huge files … It’s just the nature of the device. It’s not likely they’ll be downloading gigabytes of information standing on the street,” Cogeco Data Services president Ian Collins told itWorldCanada.

One potential use Collins may not realize has been among Toronto residents who live and work within range of the network. For some of them, Cogeco One Zone is being used from work and home, and although it is unlikely to replace residential broadband accounts that connect with home computers, some users will give the network a real workout. Should customers figure out how to tether their iPhone WiFi connection to their home computer, effectively accessing the network from a home PC or laptop, that could become an entirely new challenge.

For Canadian iPhone owners, who already face higher prices for iPhone data plans (no “unlimited” plan exists in Canada as it does in the United States), the biggest savings may come from customers downgrading data plans for “phone-based” data, because they rely on the WiFi network instead. Most iPhone owners currently pay $30 per month for 1GB or $25 for 500MB. With unlimited access through WiFi, there are no worries about exceeding data allowances.

Knowledgeable iPod Touch owners could also turn their players into Voice Over IP telephone lines using Skype or Truphone, and effectively pay just a few dollars per month for unlimited long distance calling.

When otherwise intelligent writers get sucked into industry propaganda and advocate against their own readers’ best interests, the blowback can become substantial.

VentureBeat is about to learn that principle firsthand as it bungled a piece about wireless carrier mobile data growth into a confusing article claiming “Net Neutrality” will be used by AT&T and Verizon to “drive Sprint and T-Mobile into the ground.”

What?

Authors Tim Chang and Matt Marshall then journey across the landscape of mobile data networks in the United States, regularly stopping to hammer home the requirement for limits on usage, blaming it mostly on online video.  The factual potholes litter the landscape, unfortunately:

What that means is the country’s major wireless carriers — Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile — are going to have to abort the all-you-can-eat mobile data plans most of us take for granted. It’s just getting too costly for them to give us the service on their networks for the pricing they offer today.

Video 'is the big problem' justifying Internet Overcharging for wireless mobile data, yet one of the nation's largest providers sees no problem providing its own video service on its network.

Actually, none of these carriers provide unlimited all-you-can-eat mobile data plans.  They either explicitly or implicitly (buried in the fine print) limit consumption, usually to 5GB of usage per month.  What happens beyond that does vary by carrier.  The big four impose overlimit penalties at punishing prices.  Some smaller carriers, like Cricket, simply throttle your connection or suspend service on a case-by-case basis.

The reasons for these limits:

• Limited spectrum (the frequencies the provider operates on) may not sustain demand using currently available technology and network design. Could additional spectrum, new technology standards, and more localized delivery of data reduce network congestion?
• Lack of competition.  The two primary carriers, AT&T and Verizon, have essentially provided nearly-equivalent pricing.  Their robust coverage areas make either a natural choice for most users who travel.  Sprint and T-Mobile have larger gaps in coverage.  Spectrum auctions, which is how carriers obtain new blocks of frequencies, raise huge sums for the government, but those costs inevitably do get passed down to customers.
• Psychological: Consumers accustomed to limited wireless broadband from the outset are less likely to complain if it is taken away later.
• Economical: Data packages with low limits produce profitable results, with the future possibility of earning even higher profits from subscribers who routinely exceed them and pay penalties and fees, or for carriers to create and market “additional usage packs.”

Jon Metzler, an industry consultant who has conducted research for the CTIA, says he’s heard estimates that a YouTube video of 3-5 minutes costs $1 for a carrier to handle. At this rate, a carrier would be killed when a typical user streams a mere two videos a day. That day is coming soon, because of the race by the smartphones to offer these cool video services.

Of course Metzler works for the CTIA-The Wireless Association, an industry trade and lobbying group.  They have a vested interest in pushing the “bandwidth flood” theory to preserve carrier pricing models.  The factual basis for this YouTube assertion has been challenged as well, once even by a VentureBeat reader.

Verizon doesn’t see wireless mobile video as the harbinger of doom — it sees it as a feature it can rake profits from, charging $13-25 a month extra for access to VCAST Mobile TV, a Verizon Wireless portal filled with video clips and streams.

It’s always ironic when carriers complain about the impact of services like video, while also heavily marketing their own services that, by their nature, impact their network.  YouTube bad, VCAST good.

… Continue Reading

From $199 to much more, Apple & AT&T expect premium prices for iPhone addicts.

High demand for a product often carries a premium price to acquire and use it.  The Apple iPhone, one of those few mobile products that can generate lines extending out the door of a retailer, is one such product.  AT&T Mobility, which still holds an exclusive contract with Apple for iPhones in the United States, has made it clear it will not be making any price changes to its wireless data plans with the introduction of the Apple 3G S on June 19.  Speculation about lower pricing started with AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de le Vega, who spoke at a conference last month indicating he was amenable to “limited data plans for lower fees.”  That message was soon modified into a more generic ‘price cut’ as the story traveled.

“We’ve been very happy with our pricing,” AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel told Dow Jones Newswires.

AT&T already charges a pretty penny for iPhone users on their network.  Customers signing up for service face a minimum voice plan of 450 minutes for $39.99.  An “unlimited” data plan, required for the iPhone, adds $30 per month.  AT&T claims the average iPhone customer spends about $90 per month for voice and data.  The company also reserves the right to crack down on excessive data usage and limits some applications.

Should de le Vega’s tolerance of limited data plans become reality, plans with more specific usage limits may be forthcoming, at a moderately discounted price.

AT&T has had a bad week in the public relations arena, as current iPhone owners continue to object to the full-price upgrade price they may have to pay if they are in a two year contract.  Thousands have signed a Twitter petition and have filled AT&T’s online support forums with complaints about AT&T “price gouging” loyal customers.

AT&T has enjoyed significant revenue from their exclusive arrangement with Apple.  But iPhone users are dedicated to their combination phone and data device, and try to get their money’s worth.  That has put pressure on AT&T’s network, and despite the company’s revenue from its premium priced plans, has been criticized for not keeping up with that demand.

Verizon Wireless, AT&T’s biggest competitor, trashed AT&T’s proposed upgrades as inadequate:

Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam characterized AT&T’s promises as “too little too late”. He said that AT&T’s “ceiling for their network will be the floor for our network.” McAdam called AT&T’s announcement on its network upgrade old news—about a year old. He also noted AT&T’s promises to upgrade speed are spin.

The Ovation Wireless Modem, used by Broadband2Go from Virgin Mobile

Virgin Mobile, a reseller of the Sprint network, will launch a new nationwide wireless internet service in late June, offering prepaid plans and a USB modem (the Novatel Ovation™ MC760) available for sale exclusively at Best Buy for an anticipated price of $149.99.

Broadband2Go will be marketed as a prepaid wireless mobile Internet service that is capable of supporting Sprint’s EVDO Rev. “A” network, and includes a built-in gauge that shows the amount of usage remaining.

Despite claims that Broadband2Go will provide “lightning fast” speed, it, like every other wireless data service, cannot compete with most wired providers on speed.  It can, however, provide convenient mobility for those who have limited access needs that don’t justify a $60 a month data plan from one of the four big carriers with a two year contract commitment.

Broadband2Go requires no contract or service commitment.  Want to walk away?  Just don’t purchase another refill card.

The cost of convenience is expensive, however.  The pricing for the service is very high, the usage limits low, and the expiration dates on refills short and annoying:

$10 buys you 100MB of access that expires 10 days after activation.
$20 buys you 250MB of access that expires 30 days after activation.
$40 buys you 600MB of access that expires 30 days after activation.
$60 buys you 1GB of access that expires 30 days after activation.
Use it or lose it.  Once the refill expires, your usage ends with it.

Obviously with these limits and prices, confining oneself to web browsing and e-mail is a good idea.  Watching two low resolution movies on the 1GB plan would cost you nearly $30 each.

Cricket provides a wireless data plan without a contract for $40 a month for up to 5GB of usage (they reserve the right to slow down your speed or terminate your account if you exceed that).  Cricket doesn’t have the reach Sprint’s network has, but charges a lower price for the modem and service, proving to be a viable alternative in cities with Cricket network coverage.

Even with the comparably more generous usage allowance Cricket offers, wireless broadband service is best reserved for users who require mobility or those who only require basic access to web pages and e-mail.