Linspot is the latest service to pitch the idea of selling your bandwidth via Wi-Fi to passers-by. The problem is there's not a real big demand for bandwidth in your suburban driveway at the moment. You download Linspot software, offer your hotspot as part of their "network", and they grab fifteen percent of the profit. Pricing for those trying to access your hotspot is $2.50 per hour, $5.00 per day, $12.00 per week, or $25.00 per month.

The idea arrived with a quiet thump last week via outlets like Mac Central, but as the Business 2.0 staff blog points out, we've been here before. It's exactly the sort of idea that put a provider by the name of Joltage out of business, with a few added wrinkles. Slower than expected demand led to an early demise for an idea that saw no shortage of hype when originally launched.

Linspot suffers from the same disease that infected Joltage; namely the lack of a sustainable business model. For starters Boingo offers monthly access for $21.95 compared to Linspot's $25, so immediately access costs more than establishing (if Boingo can be called such) Wi-Fi networks. If you're accessing a patchwork quilt of home-user hotspots which may or may not be on, etc....you'd likely expect to pay a little less.

Also unless you live in a compact urban environment, you may have trouble finding customers; demand in the back third of your subdivision where the developers keep the lawnmowers simply may not be that great. Even in many urban environments, you can usually find a hotspot you don't have to pay for; a problem for even established national Wi-Fi providers.

Other problems include the fact that the system only works if you turn off encryption, and as Business 2.0 notes, it's a risk to assume you know what the software is actually monitoring. What's more, what are your "customers" actually doing? Can you be held responsible?

Another possible problem Business 2.0 doesn't mention is the fact that many ISP's restrict the resale of bandwidth via Wi-Fi. DSL provider Speakeasy' Netshare initiative encourages doing so, but they're in the minority. The majority of providers are far less accommodating.

Time Warner caused a ruckus in 2002 by threatening the owners of hotspots with nasty-grams, going so far as to suggest they remove them altogether. At one point in their history, AT&T Broadband was actually flying over subscriber areas looking for users who were sharing their bandwidth. While those tactics have diminished with the surge in Wi-Fi popularity, the mentality among many ISP's has not; particularly if you're selling.