One Big Broadband Hot Spot

This isn't the Cosmo magazine kind of hotspot; it's the other kind you may be hearing about: the Broadband hotspot. They seem to be everywhere, you can sip a latte in Starbucks while browsing the net, or have a pint at the pub while you delete annoying emails from your mother But these little hotspots, once just covering a pub or a caf here or there, are growing bigger. Just last year the River Thames in London was made into a gigantic broadband hotspot that stretches for 22km from the Millennium dome to the Houses of Parliament. Anyone on the river or its banks can now whip out a laptop and start browsing. Bored of the view from the millennium wheel? Watch that hilarious video of a woman falling over on Youtube instead.

The River Thames hotspot works by mesh networking 100 access points, allowing users to connect to the net without interruption as they travel down the river. It comes at a cost, even if fairly inexpensive, and anyone with a wireless enabled device can connect for 2.95 for an hour, 5.95 for a day or just get a whole month for 9.95.

This gigantic hotspot seems insignificant however in comparison with the one being developed in Taipei, capital of Taiwan. Taipei has been engaged in a huge infrastructure upgrade that will be the foundation of a city wide broadband hotspot that will literally turn the city into one great bit hotspot. However the best laid plans for this city wide project have not gone as well as hoped, with only 30,000 or so subscribers to the service, far less than anticipated. This is partly due to a perceived unreliability in the network as well as abundantly available free hotspots in cafes and other such places within the city.

However while it may take a while for the city wide hotspot to catch on, it does seem like these gigantic wireless projects will be the way of the future. The growing integration of high speed internet into every aspect of our lives makes it inevitable that the infrastructure will be utilised - if not now then soon. Like many new technologies the factor seems to be cost- how many people will really want to pay to use the internet for a hour while they travel between a work and home where it is already paid for. How many people are really that anxious to be online at all times? When the costs match the needs is when we will start to see the full potential of such grand schemes.

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