Small Businesses Need Wireless Internet, Too
The Washington Post has a short article about yet another WiFi hotspot provider, Wise Technologies, in the Washington DC area. It was started by a venture capitalist who was so excited by the idea of WiFi hotspots, and so upset that he couldn’t find such a company to invest in, started his own. It sounds like they’re making all the same mistakes that all the early hotspot providers made. They’re focusing on small businesses (mainly restaurants), and have no idea what a reasonable business model is. They help the businesses set up the hotspot, for a fee, and then share some of the revenue generated by people who use the hotspots. Of course, the article doesn’t indicate if anyone actually is paying to use those hotspots – and if other articles on this subject are any indication the answer is probably “not very many”. WiFi hotspots are a great idea, but they’re priced at ridiculous levels – especially when they’re competing with all the free WiFi hotspots out there. Something needs to give.
