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April 24, 2006
Free WiFi: You Get What You Pay For
The good news is that St. Cloud, Fla., reportedly was the first to launch a free citywide WiFi service. The bad news is service and coverage is so bad, few can connect to it and those who do, can’t stay connected for long.
An AP story quoted disappointed St. Cloud resident Joe Lusardi, who, after promised in-home coverage deteriorated, was told that in order to keep receiving “free” wireless service, he had to pay $170 (to the city of course!) for a special wireless bridge. Lusardi and others like him around this Orlando suburb are now realizing they and the town government do not share the same definiton of the word "free."
At first, a desktop computer in Lusardi's house could use the Wi-Fi network with no problem, but his laptop would only work outdoors. Even then it was too slow and unreliable, so he kept his $20 per month Sprint DSL service.
Now the desktop doesn't even work, and he's completely abandoned the idea of dropping his pay service and using the network
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"It's just total frustration," Lusardi said. "I'm going to stay with the DSL and just forget it, because I don't think it's going to work. Very few people are going to use it, and they're going to say it's underutilized and they're going to shut it down."
St. Cloud is running headlong into the “commons problem” that free wireless creates—overcrowding of channels—one that I’ve personally experienced and discussed here last week. What’s telling is that service has begun to deteriorate with just 3500 users within 15 square miles. Do some quick math (233 users per square mile; 1 square mile = 640 acres) and this equates slightly more than 1 user per every three acres. If this level of density is causing congestion now, problems will get worse before they get better.
Posted by steve.titch at April 24, 2006 02:42 PM
I've just been hanging out not getting anything done. What can I say? I've basically been doing nothing worth mentioning, but pfft. Not that it matters. Pretty much nothing exciting happening to speak of. I haven't been up to much these days.
Comment by: Sten78877 at January 24, 2007 04:10 PM
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I haven't been up to much lately. I've basically been doing nothing , but it's not important. I can't be bothered with anything recently. I've just been letting everything happen without me lately.
Comment by: Sten97277 at January 26, 2007 07:55 AM
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I've just been staying at home not getting anything done. I guess it doesn't bother me. Shrug. I haven't been up to anything. I haven't gotten much done today.
Comment by: Sten21898 at January 26, 2007 03:44 PM
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I haven't been up to anything today. I can't be bothered with anything recently. Nothing seems worth thinking about. I haven't gotten anything done recently, but oh well. Not much noteworthy going on worth mentioning.
Comment by: Sten72827 at January 27, 2007 11:34 PM
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I haven't been up to anything these days. So it goes. I can't be bothered with anything these days.
Comment by: Sten69011 at January 28, 2007 01:26 AM
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My life's been pretty dull recently. Shrug. My mind is like a void. I haven't gotten anything done lately. I can't be bothered with anything recently.
Comment by: Sten82318 at January 28, 2007 08:01 PM
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I haven't been up to much today. I've just been letting everything happen without me. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. I've just been hanging out doing nothing. I just don't have anything to say right now. More or less nothing happening.
Comment by: Sten74497 at January 29, 2007 01:03 AM
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I haven't been up to anything today. I don't care. I've just been staying at home not getting anything done. Basically not much happening right now. Maybe tomorrow. I guess it doesn't bother me.
Comment by: Sten45784 at January 29, 2007 05:50 AM
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I haven't been up to much these days. Today was a loss. Nothing seems important. I've just been letting everything happen without me these days.
Comment by: Sten14406 at January 29, 2007 08:35 AM
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Basically nothing noteworthy happening right now, but eh. Today was a complete loss. I haven't been up to much recently. I've pretty much been doing nothing worth mentioning.
Comment by: Sten30960 at January 29, 2007 04:12 PM
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I haven't been up to much these days. Today was a loss. Nothing seems important. I've just been letting everything happen without me these days.
Comment by: Sten95524 at January 30, 2007 12:34 AM
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I haven't been up to anything today. I can't be bothered with anything recently. Nothing seems worth thinking about. I haven't gotten anything done recently, but oh well. Not much noteworthy going on worth mentioning.
Comment by: Sten99544 at January 30, 2007 07:46 AM
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Not much on my mind right now, but it's not important. I've just been letting everything happen without me. I just don't have anything to say right now.
Comment by: Sten16440 at January 30, 2007 09:48 AM
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I just don't have anything to say , but shrug. So it goes. Not much on my mind recently. I can't be bothered with anything recently.
Comment by: Sten54190 at January 30, 2007 05:47 PM
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I just don't have anything to say. Not that it matters. Eh. I've just been staying at home doing nothing, but I don't care. That's how it is.
Comment by: Sten10463 at January 30, 2007 10:04 PM
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I just don't have anything to say. Not that it matters. Eh. I've just been staying at home doing nothing, but I don't care. That's how it is.
Comment by: Sten36723 at January 31, 2007 03:54 AM
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I haven't been up to anything recently, but so it goes. Such is life. What can I say? Pretty much not much exciting going on to speak of. I haven't gotten much done lately, but I don't care.
Comment by: Sten83108 at January 31, 2007 09:38 AM
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I can't be bothered with anything these days, but shrug. I just don't have anything to say recently. I haven't gotten much done recently. Nothing seems worth thinking about.
Comment by: Sten92322 at January 31, 2007 07:42 PM
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I haven't been up to much lately. I've basically been doing nothing , but it's not important. I can't be bothered with anything recently. I've just been letting everything happen without me lately.
Comment by: Sten77206 at February 1, 2007 12:22 AM
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I've just been staying at home not getting anything done. I guess it doesn't bother me. Shrug. I haven't been up to anything. I haven't gotten much done today.
Comment by: Sten41881 at February 1, 2007 03:54 AM
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I just don't have much to say these days, but so it goes. Today was a total loss. I guess it doesn't bother me.
Comment by: Sten67772 at February 1, 2007 05:33 AM
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I've just been staying at home not getting anything done. I guess it doesn't bother me. Shrug. I haven't been up to anything. I haven't gotten much done today.
Comment by: Sten13587 at February 1, 2007 10:19 AM
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Not much on my mind these days, but what can I say? It's not important. I just don't have much to say lately. I've just been letting everything pass me by recently, but eh.
Comment by: Sten91254 at February 2, 2007 07:33 AM
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I've just been staying at home not getting anything done. I guess it doesn't bother me. Shrug. I haven't been up to anything. I haven't gotten much done today.
Comment by: Sten86001 at February 3, 2007 12:30 AM
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My life's been basically bland today. More or less nothing seems worth thinking about. My mind is like an empty room. I've more or less been doing nothing to speak of. Not much on my mind recently.
Comment by: Sten6139 at February 3, 2007 07:38 AM
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I just don't have much to say recently. Such is life. I've basically been doing nothing. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. Oh well.
Comment by: Sten64634 at February 3, 2007 09:37 PM
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I've just been hanging out not getting anything done. What can I say? I've basically been doing nothing worth mentioning, but pfft. Not that it matters. Pretty much nothing exciting happening to speak of. I haven't been up to much these days.
Comment by: Sten85030 at February 4, 2007 12:15 AM
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Not much on my mind lately. My life's been completely boring these days. I've just been hanging out not getting anything done. So it goes.
Comment by: Sten57400 at February 4, 2007 06:47 AM
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My life's been pretty dull recently. Shrug. My mind is like a void. I haven't gotten anything done lately. I can't be bothered with anything recently.
Comment by: Sten59636 at February 4, 2007 11:07 PM
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My life's been basically bland today. More or less nothing seems worth thinking about. My mind is like an empty room. I've more or less been doing nothing to speak of. Not much on my mind recently.
Comment by: Sten15554 at February 5, 2007 12:35 AM
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My mind is like a bunch of nothing, but I guess it doesn't bother me. I haven't been up to anything recently. I've pretty much been doing nothing to speak of.
Comment by: Sten55289 at February 5, 2007 07:09 PM
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I've just been hanging out not getting anything done. What can I say? I've basically been doing nothing worth mentioning, but pfft. Not that it matters. Pretty much nothing exciting happening to speak of. I haven't been up to much these days.
Comment by: Sten47122 at February 5, 2007 09:19 PM
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