After NY and Philadelphia, Amsterdam seems to be on the route of becoming the first European city providing wi-fi all over. "The idea is to prove to the big boys that it can be done and that consumers can live with a mobile phone and mobile Internet. The landline is dead". Heh!
UPDATE: More on that as well as links pointing to cities such as LA and Cleveland doing the same over at Ronald's blog - Technology Futurist.
I am on wi-fi (the Apple solution is called AirPort) with both my office and my home networks for a couple of years now. On the other hand, from the dazzled looks I got from the visitors -- "huh, no cables?!?" -- I suppose wi-fi is still far from entering mainstream in Romania.
right, having the low Romanian internet penetration rates in mind I doubt nowadays wi-fi is en vogue around here. Let's not forget though that Romanians are fast followers. I guess it would be cool to go to Herastrau and surf a bit. Oh well, if you're high level geek or want to impress a girl. :))
Well, how about using Wifi to help boost the Internet pentration. Use hotspots as a connectivity hub, and attract people that would be interested to share a hotspot with others. How about getting some EU funding to get started? Look at the development of new real estate areas. Why put wiring in place anyway? Look at all those huge areas of Bucharest where you can find wires in between blocks of flats because people are willing to share IP traffic. Poshy places? Why not? I've seen people asking about WIFI hotspots in Bucharest, because they were coming to visit Romania. This looks to me like a big time opportunity for someone who is willing to put in a relatively modest investment. I'm actually surprised that it doesn't happen already.
I agree that wifi can be a better way for rapidly increasing the internet penetration rate. I have no ideas about the specific figures but I doubt that the upfront investment is modest though - keep in mind that the home internet through cable TV, which is the cheapest "broadband" so to speak, is ridiculously expensive as compared to similar propositions from Western Europe. As such, probably a wifi provider, who allegedly would be a re-seller, probably would have to get expensive deals. Just some thoughts, have no idea about the specifics though.