Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02
Host:
Road Runner
PC gaming GAMES
PC gaming Tech
| reply to AR
Re: Educate me
Well, they: prevent an Earthlink or someone else from winning the contract, use the fact that existing AT&T DSL customers get fairly inexpensive Wi-Fi as a market differentiator, and market the AT&T brand to free users stopping by.
I have to think they aren't entirely sold that this is a serious money-maker or marketing opportunity or there would be broader effort... |
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AR
Premium,ExMod 2001-04
join:2000-09-21
Toronto, ON
 ·Rogers Hi-Speed
| Since it is paid service and not free, it could be also they see it as a potential emerging market and they're getting into it just because they can????
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Exercise and Diet journal. |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02
Host:
Road Runner
PC gaming GAMES
PC gaming Tech
| I don't know. I think their primary interest here is to set up a few test Wi-Fi networks and see from first-hand data if there's decent ROI there.
Probably based on the convincing board-room lecture of some up and coming middle-manager who thinks there's a .4% chance Earthlink is a threat to the empire. |
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Time4aNAP
Premium
join:2007-04-09
Des Plaines, IL
| reply to Karl Bode
Call me a cynic, but based on the track record of every single other citywide Wi-Fi announcement, and that of SBC, my guess is that SBC...er...AT&T plans on sticking to its usual modus operandi, and using the contract to lock out competition. I doubt that they will ever actually build it. |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02
Host:
Road Runner
PC gaming GAMES
PC gaming Tech
| Yeah, but just targeting St. Louis and Napa, California is half-assed. When AT&T has a real mind to lock out competition, they bring out the lobbyists on a broader scale and fire up the mammoth PR machine.
This strikes me as just a casual sniff of a potentially competitive market that they probably figure they'll dominate via HSDPA or WiMax anyway.... |
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11 | reply to Karl Bode
They already do $1.95/mo WiFi for DSL customers through their Freedomlink service, so this is not that much of a stretch, actually. Someone is definitely testing the waters.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. |
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Time4aNAP
Premium
join:2007-04-09
Des Plaines, IL
| reply to Karl Bode
said by Karl Bode  :Yeah, but just targeting St. Louis and Napa, California is half-assed. When AT&T has a real mind to lock out competition, they bring out the lobbyists on a broader scale and fire up the mammoth PR machine. I have little doubt that their lobbyists are hard at work as we speak. And you can be sure that many of those seemingly grassroots "reform" TV commercials and websites are in fact wolves in sheep's clothing.
This strikes me as just a casual sniff of a potentially competitive market that they probably figure they'll dominate via HSDPA or WiMax anyway.... It's far from casual. It's just one level of a multilevel plan of attack. If they went after every Wi-Fi Internet franchise all at once, even the village idiot would be able to connect the dots. But if they limit themselves to putting up strategic roadblocks that serve to prevent any single entity to gain a regional toehold on the market, then they have accomplished their goal without raising any red flags.
As you pointed out, the window of opportunity for Wi-Fi in this application is closing rapidly. The smart players aren't making large capital investments in a soon-to-be obsolete technology. But they are counting on municipalities to grandfather-in incumbent Wi-Fi franchisees into any new technology deployments, rather than go through the process all over again every time a new wireless standard comes along. |
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John Galt
Forward, March
Premium
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp
 ·CenturyLink
| said by Time4aNAP :The smart players aren't making large capital investments in a soon-to-be obsolete technology. I hardly think that WiFi is going to be obsolete soon...
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A is A |
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Time4aNAP
Premium
join:2007-04-09
Des Plaines, IL
| said by John Galt :I hardly think that WiFi is going to be obsolete soon... As a metropolitan WISP technology? We'll have to see how WiMAX and other 802.16 standards fare in real life. But as it stands in Chicago, it's Canopy® ~6 to Wi-Fi 0. Wi-Fi MANs have been announced with much ballyhoo, but not one has become operational. Heck, the ad hoc WLANs put up by hobbyists have carried more packets than any franchise operation has! |
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morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs:
·Charter Pipeline
·AT&T Southwest
2 edits | reply to Time4aNAP
i think they will build "something" in st. louis. but let's look at how they selected this location to try it out:
a contract renewal with hundreds of AT&T employees based in st. louis was pending. at&t used the threat of moving these jobs to texas (or elsewhere) to push this slimey deal through without real competition. for a history lesson, SBC moved its headquarters from St. Louis to San Antonio when St. Louis didn't bend over enough and supply adequate lube. point being that ATT/SBC has screwed this area in the past and would do it again. a believable threat that the city leaders decided to respond to.
did AT&T/SBC have any employees in the Napa area to threaten? maybe we can connect the dots. |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02 | reply to Karl Bode
People can read the actual access agreement here:
»www.stltoday.com/blogs/wp-conten···ment.pdf |
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to morbo
said by morbo :St. Louis didn't bend over enough and supply adequate lube. It's the American corporate way. How many other companies (and sport teams for that matter) have used this same extortion technique to pry a contract or tax break or stadium out of the locals? Not saying it's the right thing to do, but it's hardly a new thing.
Let us know if you find anything.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. |
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David
No,there is another.
Premium,VIP
join:2002-05-30
Granite City, IL
clubs:
 ·DIRECTV
 ·magicjack.com
·AT&T Midwest
1 edit | reply to morbo
Well me being in STL, if they really wanted to screw STL that bad they could have picked other places to open a DSL tech center for ASI. The fact that 1000 techs in this center have had a job for 7+ years (yes they brought us in, in groups of 30 at first) wouldn't have anything to do with this. I am sure they could have picked other places to open such a center.
I mean you would think this might be something good compared to the charter topics currently. I guess charter could have won the proposal but then again would that be considered competition at that point? |
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