Aspen Wireless News & Updates

ASPEN, Colorado—While top telecommunications executives talked at an annual free-market conference about delivering Wi-Fi without a business model, Wi-Fi entrepreneur Jim Selby and his Aspen Wireless crew were outside the room selling Wi-Fi cards to conference goers.

Those with Wi-Fi had Internet access from within the bunkerlike conference room while BlackBerries were silenced.

All the telecommunications players agree that customers want Wi-Fi—and they’re all willing to provide it. The difference is, Selby believes he can make money offering Wi-Fi now, using fixed wireless service as a base, while Verizon Wireless, Qwest Communications and SBC Communications are searching for a model that makes sense.

In the meantime, the relatively inexpensive cost of rolling out Wi-Fi allows the larger companies to experiment without a lot of risk. FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy, a Republican who comes from the telecommunications industry, says the chance for businesses of all sizes to get involved shows the beauty of Wi-Fi and the unlicensed spectrum.

http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,60118,00.html