CEDX

LIRR Penn Station Hotspot Field Report

8/14/08 Update Here.  I took the Iron Horse into the Big Town today, and checked out the LIRR's Penn Station waiting room hotspot.  The SSID's are LIRR_HOTSPOT_11G, and LIRR_HOTSPOT_11A, and are completely wide open, there's no splash page or other web login interface.  It runs off of a little Netgear RP614.  So kudos for putting in a tri-band access point.  One of the funny things I noticed, is that they are running it off of a Time Warner Business internet connection.   I'm not sure what the Terms of Service are, but I'm pretty sure the LIRR can do what it wants with that connection.  Pity the residential customers don't have the same leeway.  I found out about it via the LI BIZ BLOG, so hat tip to Henry and the gang for that.  Of course, it would be great if the LIRR would use this as a jumping off point to further web enable their customer facing communications, and use it as a marketing platform.

A new WISP Market Research Tool from Tom Evslin

Tom Evslin, in his Fractals of Change blog, announces a great tool for businesses and communities that want to assess their prospects for broadband deployment.  Organizations trying to judge whether there's market demand and where to build out can use this tool to collect data that will help them in their deployment process.  If an entrepreneur sent out a few street teams with laptops and cell data cards to local shopping centers in the areas that they were thinking of building out in, by asking prospects to fill in their broadband options and locations, it would be easy to find out where your best chances are to achieve sustainability.  Tom describes his methodology in these posts.  I for one will be watching very closely to see what kind of data is gathered.  Benoit Felten in his Fiberevolution blog has asked for contributions to a similar map.  Entrepreneurs would be wise to use these tools and keep an eye on the winners of the 700 MHz auction, to see what they do with their licenses.

Tom promises to release the tool so that folks can develop their own maps.  Turn that puppy loose, Tom!

Long Island Wi-Fi project update

Evidently, there is no update.  Pete Weiss writes a review article in Long Island Business News that rounds up all the players and takes the pulse of where the project is or isn't right now.  E-path is still trying to raise money for the project, and the counties are patiently waiting to see something concrete in the test areas.  Bob Giglione took a nice picture of me for the front page, on the Huntington Harbor waterfront, where I was checking the status on two wi-fi networks I operate for the West Shore Marina and Huntington Yacht Club.  I get quoted in the piece regarding the diminishing customer acquisition prospects for the project in the face of competition.  I believe that this project can work, and I express my regrets about not bidding in comments on the LIBN blog.  I think that people have to be creative when they think about wireless networking, and build a Purple Cow, instead of just providing commodity bandwidth distributed over a unscaleable technology like wi-fi.  That's a surefire recipe for failure in the face of Cablevision rolling out its complimentary to customers public wi-fi hotspots and the cellular carriers' data plays.  You still need to pony up for wired bandwidth at home, but if you're out and about, you don't have to pay to get online in some of the more popular Long Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey downtowns if you are an Optimum Online customer.  MuniWireless and Glenn Fleishman's Wifinetnews pick up on coverage of the story.  My take on their comments after the jump.