Making Public WiFi Hotspots Easier

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2783923.stm' target='_blank'>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2783923.stm</a><br /><br /></div>The WiFi consortium is working on making it easier for people to access public networks in a well-documented, standard fashion. Additionally, they're developing a brand which makes it easier to see if a public network is in view.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/wifizone-20030220.jpg" /><br /><br />"The makers of wireless networking hardware are allying with the companies setting up commercial wi-fi services to standardise the ways that computers join and swap data across these networks. The initiative should make it much easier for itinerant laptop owners to sit down and start using wireless networks wherever they find them by making only a minimum of changes to their computer's set-up. Eventually identification technologies included in laptops and handheld computers could mean that users get one bill for all the separate wireless networks they have used while travelling."

[Jonathan1]

Hmmm Doesn't this run directly polar to what the feds said a few months ago about open networks?

[MooseMaster]

This is for public networks, not necessarily open networks. And it refers to a means in which people are tracked and billed for the amount that they use the network.