Random thought. I keep hearing stories about conferences where the wireless access doesn’t quite come together because of technology or, more likely, policy. What if, for a reasonable fee, you could pay to have someone show up with an uplink and a hotspot? Maybe the provider sets up a satellite antenna for the uplink, or maybe they have a deal with local phone companies that makes it easy to provision DSL on the spot, on a separate network from the conference host’s. This should solve the security concerns while giving the attendees what they want. I’m sure the technology exists. Somebody’s probably doing it already.

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  1. Check out Magicbike. [http://www.magicbike.net%5D . Yury Gitman started this as a wireless art project but now he’s started a business providing portable wifi to gathering spaces.

    The problem that I run into with most hotel and conference spaces is that the company that provides T1 or DSL service will also have an “exclusive” on WiFi as well, allowing them to price gouge to the tune of $250-$1000 a day. My experience with renting a cheaper (land) line from them and throwing my own router on it has been mixed. Some techs don’t care and look the other way, while others consider it a mortal offense and threaten to charge you the full $1000.

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