MuniWireless

A study carried out for the European Commission reveals that Europeans are shocked by the extremely high charges they incur when they use their mobile phones and laptops for data access outside their home countries. They are also unhappy about the the lack of transparency related to the pricing by volume of data (megabytes) used.

Indeed, lack of transparency is a serious problem: most people don’t read the fine print on their mobile phone contracts. When the operators say they are selling you…

I’ve written a lot about Blyk, a mobile virtual network operator based in the UK, that has a novel business model: giving away free mobile phone service in exchange for users’ viewing MMS and SMS ads. While this “free service in exchange for ads” model has not worked well in the citywide Wi-Fi space and has never been tried in the cellular industry, Blyk claims they are doing very well. The reason: they target 16-24 year olds. Unless you fall…

Wireless Oakland has suspended operations after failing to attract new investors. The network is stuck in phase one and has been unable to expand because of a lack of funds. The total cost of building out the network is estimated at $70 million. MichTel Communications, the service provider, cannot go on with the project.

While projects such as Wireless Oakland stumble, others such as Craven County (North Carolina), Racine County (Wisconsin) and Cambria County (Pennsylvania) are going forward with their plans.…