As EarthLink launches its first citywide Wi-Fi network in Anaheim, Calif., this week, serious questions arise about whether the company's strategy to build municipal wireless networks across the country will really work.
Although a local coffee shop offered free wifi, Alexander Eric Smith found himself in jail after using the service for three months.
The PERM project is designed to help people in residential areas share bandwidth securely with their neighbors over WiFi. The software actively monitors network usage and distributes traffic across the different wired connections. It gives priority to the owner of the wired connection. It seems like a good idea, but I wonder how effective it will be. Cable users are already on a shared line so it seems this would be a net loss and I doubt DSL users will be happy when a neighbor slams them into their monthly traffic limit.