A Discomforting Precedent For WiFi "Hot Spots"

rob.sharp writes: "The BBC have some history lessons for wireless networks ...", pointing to an article about a wireless phone service called Rabbit, which relied on access areas similar in concept to the WiFi "hot spots" ISPs and business are experimenting with around the globe right now. ("Subscribers to the service, backed by Hutchison Whampoa, could make mobile calls when they were within 100 metres of a Rabbit transmitter.") Rabbit didn't work out well, though, and the article questions whether 802.11 access providers can do any better.

I remember rabbit

[tomsparrow]

It wasn't as bad as it sounds - if it weren't for mobile phones coming up fast at the time it could have been a great success.

If I remember correctly, you got what was essentially a cordless phone and base station - you piad wired rates when at home, and mobile rates when elsewhere.
The good was that anyone walking past your house could use your base station t omake 'elsewhere' calls (on thier bill, of course).

You presumably got a sign in the pack to stick in your window, because there are still some left around in random places. (one in a flat down the road from me).

Well, there was Ricochet

[name_already_taken]

But look what happened to that. Maybe now the time is right (Wi-Fi cards are cheap now, etc).