Wifi Should Be A Public Utility (continued)

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Wifi Should Be A Public Utility (continued)

There's the free and ubiquitious approach, which I favor, and then there's the greedy bastards approach which apparently Boston's Logan Airport favors.

I have no issue with Logan's interest in offering a paid wifi offering in its terminals, but if some smart visionary company wants to offer a free alternative, they should be allowed to do that.

The market wants competition, not monoplies that offer crappy service and charge a fortune.

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» Logan Seizes Control Over Airport WiFi from robhyndman.com
A controversy is whipping up over plans at Bostons Logan airport to squeeze out free WiFi services (such as those in airline lounges) that compete with the paid service offered by the landlord. From the Boston Globe: Logan International Airpor... [Read More]

Tracked on Feb 3, 2006 5:53:52 PM

Posted January 3, 2006 in Venture Capital and Technology

Comments

Fred,

There is an interesting bit of irony here in that most of the proposals for free and ubiquitous Wifi are coming from local governments and here we have a government agency trying to appropriate a market for itself. Government agencies that see fit to become suppliers to a particular market have a tendancy to rewrite the rules of competition to suit their own purposes which often at odds with the interests of those they are purporting to serve. Our local transit system is a good example wherein the City started the IND as an effort (eventually successful) to bankrupt the then privately owned IRT and BMT lines. God knows the MTA could stand a large helping of competition given the level of "service" it provides at enormous cost to the taxpayers. While I'll all for giving consumers another alternative to the incumbent LECs, advocates of government provided Wifi may want to be careful what they wish for.

Posted by: Brian Horey | Jan 3, 2006 1:27:18 PM

Massport / Logan Airport should get back to doing what they do best -- running a piece of crap airport at which the first departures of the day are typically late, even when the skies are sunny and clear.

Or, perhaps they should focus on security, seeing as they were the launch pad for several of the 9/11 planes.

Logan is a sick joke.

Posted by: just.a.guy | Jan 3, 2006 4:28:33 PM

A VC

Musings of a VC in NYC