 Jacob
join:2000-11-28
Los Gatos, CA | Cool What a great idea! | |
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dnoyeB
Ferrous Phallus
join:2000-10-09
Southfield, MI
|  Uhh, yea right.
If you let me open a franchise, once I learn the ropes, I will open my own because I know the area even better than you. Plus Im doing all the work anyway.
Its a great idea to speed deployment of broadband though!
I suspect if they dont make you sign some 5 year deal saying you can not offer wireless on your own for at least 5 years? Their must be something.
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dnoyeB"Then said I, Wisdom [is] better than strength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom [is] despised, and his words are not heard. " Ecclesiastes 9:16
The government is pricing our rights our of our reach. | |
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Mashiki
Balking The Enemy's Plans
join:2002-02-04
Woodstock, ON
 ·Rogers Hi-Speed
| Re: Uhh, yea right. Yup you got a great point, there are alot of places especially in canada where your stuck using either land line @9600 baud or with sat phones up in the far north, a WiFi network would be good also to alliviate the problems currently plaugeing poor copper phone lines and the slow upgrade rate of cable lines here as well.
My guess though for the hook you have to buy certain equipment, and provide a certain quality of access.
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Plan for the worst, and everything else is a pleasent surpise. | |
| | 
JL2
@63.126.x.x | You guys got it wrong, there is no franchise fee. You don't have to pay them a dime... Try reading the site a little more clearly..
James Lemming | |
| 
dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| Laughable taken from the article:
The franchisee must supply the computer, a broadband connection to the Internet, and at least one access point.
can you say *RIP OFF*?
I got to provide EVERYTHING NECESSARY then pay YOU a FRANCHISE FEE to offer it? poo on that idea. | |
| 
RutDog
join:2001-08-11
Portland, OR
edited
|  I smell a DSLMonster
If you go here »www.joltage.com/jsp/home/provider_needs.jsp# you'll see that joltage is encouraging people like me, with a DSL line and a wireless access point, to just sign up and start making money reselling my connection.
Well while sharing my bandwidth with my neighbors may be a grey area, clearly re-selling it is a whole different story, and would put me at potential liability with my ISP.
But joltage makes no note of any legal issues I might run into, and encourages me to go to BestBuy and purchase an access point if I don't already have one (yes, they actually have a link to the BB site!).
And if I don't have DSL, they provide a handy link to Covad.net for that purpose, too, referring to them as they're "affiliate." I wonder if Covad knows about this affiliation, seeing as there is nothing about joltage on Covad's partner page or press release page.
Meanwhile, I can register in 5 minutes to become a hotspot just by filling out this form »www.joltage.com/jsp/registration···n_p1.jsp and view FAQ that give me tips on how to increase my broadcast range with a Pringle's can, but have nothing like "What type of authorization do I need from my ISP to resell their service?" »www.joltage.com/jsp/support/supp···faq.jsp#
And then they're going to pay me my share of revenues via Paypal? Give me a break -- what legitimate company relies on PayPal for their disbursements? Its only a touch more legit than the DSLMonster guy using a hotmail address and then an @home account.
Even if they don't take my money somehow, the nonchalant exposure of their "franchisees" to legal liability of bandwidth reselling is clearly an indefensible unethical business practice.
Come on DSLR detectives... something just doesn't seem right.
As for InfoWorld, CNET, and the rest of you journalists covering joltage -- where is your hard hitting journalistic cynicism?
[text was edited by author 2002-03-23 23:35:23] | |
| | 
MrTangent
join:2001-12-28
Earth
| Re: I smell a DSLMonster Great point, RutDog. I don't think re-selling your connection is acceptable use under the provisions of a personal broadband connection. Plus as others have hinted at, if you have all this equipment you could do it yourself and not pay anyone else! It's not that hard to set up a WiFi network and with a few hundred dollars and the broadband connection anyone could do so.
It's a good idea but ultimately if people can do it themselves and not pay a dividend elsewhere, as well as the legal ramifications for joining up, I don't see this working. I predict it's going to be ultimately a mediocre business or fail outright. | |
| |
Cpex
@pacbell.n
| While I see no way this can be legit I think there purpose is not to provide access to stationary users but mobile useres on a sort of roaming network. So they have enough people broadcasting there connection spread throughout an area so Joe smoe can drive through in his car surfing the web on his laptop with a wireless connection picking up the closes "hotspot as they call them" But I dont see how they can legaly get people to resell there bandwith. | |
| 
silverfawx
Maybe Later
join:2001-10-05
Mesa, AZ
clubs:
| Absorb the costs "The infrastructure software is downloadable and Joltage will also offer online training, a marketing kit, and even a laminated instruction card for users at the store."
They will abosorb the costs of that?! Like that stuff is so expensive... Haha what a stupid idea. It seems like they want to make money off people by doing nothing. Supply me with a broadband connection, computer, and a way for people to access me and then I'll think about the offer. | |
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chex5
join:2000-05-24
NorthEnd BOS
clubs:
| Re: Read the Provider Agreement.
I am currently in a quandry about what to do about providing my newly setup Wi-Fi node myself. I am a computer savvy guy living in a Boston neighborhood, fairly urban, apartment buildings all around me, and I am in a 18 unit-3 story condo, near Boston University. I had been running the propreitary Symphony/Proxim wireless setup, and that system was junk compared to Wi-Fi, I could barely get a signal all through my 1250 sq. ft. apartment , let alone go out to other apartments or across the street.
Now I get a Linksys AP/switch, and the thing is amazing. I get a 1.5 Mbit signal throughout my building, and into the areas around my apartment, and I want to a) share it to my neighbors for low-cost ($5/month) just to recoup some of my connection costs, with the possibility of getting a second DSL line, and b) share a connection for free to occasional people who want to wander in and use access. I am envisioning a unlimited access bandwidth for the people who pay, and tthen I would bandwidth limit the free loaders to say 300-500 kbps MAX.. and maybe connection times, too.. (not staying connected for 12 hours a day, every day.. )
anways, I am stymied for several reasons:
on the pay front, it is clearly against my ISP to re-sell my connection, even if not for profit. Plus if I have neighbors paying there is a assumed level off service that I will provide to them, that I cannot always do... but I would hope for $5/month that they wouldnt assume this, but it could. I have already asked my 3 closest neighbors, and none of them are interested already.
On the free front: I need to advertise my point, and there is no grass-roots nycwireless.org like-group active here in Boston right now, and also, I am very concerned about liability issues, people coming in and hacking my network, sending out spam, posting child porn or causing other illegal mischief that would have the FBI knocking on MY door wanting to know what my IP address was doing 'blah illegal things'...
So... I dont see a good way around these issues, other than one suggestion , which is get 2 broadband connections, and put the free connection on the one you would be willing to lose, and too hope for the best.
This is just where a provider like Joltage could come in, giving you some sort of a turn-key software system that would limit and log access, that you could install on windows and unix servers, and then if there are problems, you could turn to them for help. They also would give the publicity that your site would need to visitors to my area who need access, or just neighbors who might be interested in access. (nycwireless.org is doing this very well right now from what I have seen.. ) But from the looks of things, they don't look all on the up-and-up as you people have observed.. so I will keep looking.
suggestions>?? comments??
Thanks,
Chex in Allston
said by :-0:
If you sign up as a provider the Provider agreement is in a scroll bar with extremely small fonts. Not unusual for some sites but you really need ot real this thing. Its not at all friendly to the provider. It pretty much states the provider has to monitor and maintain all equipment and services on a 24hr basis. Your payments on top of that are 30 days delayed. It wasn't all that clear on how you get paid and what constitutes usage. What if someone is just in the area for a couple of hours then goes someplace else? DO you get paid for that person period for the month or just for the time they were on your hotspot. Its only profitable if your HotSpot is in a extremely computer user populated area.
It does state that you have to get authorization from your ISP to share your Internet service.
I did find something that was on the "WTF" side, under the Provider Agreement It states: "22. Termination by Provider. You may terminate your account at any time and for any reason by providing 30 days prior notice of termination to Joltage by: [method].You can remove your access point from the Joltage location directory by accessing your account at www.joltage.com. Email termination of your basic Internet accessprovider account will not be accepted. Your termination will only be complete when you terminate according to the prescribed Procedures found at the Joltage Web site. If there are sums owing by you which were accrued prior to your termination you may be billed for these amounts after you receive a cancellation confirmation. "
»www.joltage.com/jsp/footer/all_p···ment.jsp
Can you believe this thing?
--
Sung to the old New England Telephone Ad Jingle: " We're the only one New Eng-Lund, Hell-Ri-zon Tele-phonnnnne! " | |
| morroja
join:2002-03-26
New York, NY
| READ THIS " What Is The Joltage Provider Program?
The provider program enables you to download the Joltage free Provider software, and transform your access point and broadband connection into a Joltage HotSpot. Your Joltage Hotspot operates as a provider of high-speed wireless service to the public. Joltage tracks the wireless usage of your HotSpot. You get paid 50% of net revenues at the end of your payment period.
Joltage does not charge a franchise fee. To turn your location into a HotSpot, the only cost incurred to the Provider is that of a computer, an access point and a broadband connection. Joltage provides the software free of charge."
»www.joltage.com/jsp/home/provide···gram.jsp | |
| |
RutDog
join:2001-08-11
Portland, OR | Re: READ THIS Morroja:
What is your opinion about that? We've already said what we think about it... | |
| | | morroja
join:2002-03-26
New York, NY
| Re: READ THIS My previous posting was in response to the quote below:
"Plus as others have hinted at, if you have all this equipment you could do it yourself and not pay anyone else! It's not that hard to set up a WiFi network and with a few hundred dollars and the broadband connection anyone could do so. "
After reading the site through, I couldn't find anything in there regarding franchise fees and the like. As a provider, you don't have to pay anyone anything. Reselling arguments aside (which will hopefully be addressed soon), I think that the value here is that unless you can write your own software to manage your access point and then have some vehicle for advertising it, then you probably can't expect other people to know about it (much less charge them for using it).
thoughts?  | |
| 
nhyankees
join:2001-01-23
Laconia, NH
|  Easy Cash ?
I think Boingo might be the better deal but, I also don't think it is too complicated for an average broadband user to run on their own off of a small business broadband connection. | |
| |
ateohtwo
@141.158.x.x
| Re: Easy Cash ? From what i gather these guys have 4 APs set up in New York and 1 in LA. Only 3 work. Seems to me anyone legit would have put a little more work into getting those markets up and running before going public with this. Maybe those are their employees - I dunno.
Anyone else notice the list of countries you can search for AP in? Pretty ambitious! Not only do they have Afghanistan listed, but Antarctica! LOL! This was good for a laugh. Seems similar to what boingo is trying to accomplish, yet cheaper. I just don't think you can build a successful business model by providing a service which is managed haphazardly by thousands of non-employees. I mean ok, I subscribe to your service cuz you live next door and want me to subsidize your bandwidth. What happens when you move-out or your ISP shuts you off or your ISP has a problem, do I get credited?
Ok, so they're trying to cater to the mobile user who passes through an affiliated hot-spot. Great. Who's going to pay you $24.95 a month to have access to 5 hotspots in America? The only thing I wonder is if the execs they list on their website are real and know they are involved in this. Looks to me like an amateaur business plan done by a half-decent web designer. Gotta admit the site looks better than dslmonster. lol.
| |
| Charley6
Premium
join:2002-03-07
Lexington, KY
| Tracking, billing, collecting The software to accomplish this is pretty daunting. Nationwide over many, many, access points. This is really what Boingo is. And this one also.
Solving the ISP Terms of Service problem is a big step. But if you whip the TOS thing and already have Wi-Fi, why not open it up and go.
Pay Pal is not a bad idea for making small monthly payments. Costs of printing, stuffing, and mailing can be greater than the check. Plus, you don't have to go to the bank with it.
Create several APs to the same connection. Enroll one in Boingo and one in Joltage, both to serve travelers. Then create the third for yourself and friends. Some things to figure out, but a good idea. | |
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Read the Provider Agreement.
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