Baltimore Inner Harbor To Go Wireless

An anonymous reader writes "The City of Baltimore has made free wireless internet available in the Inner Harbor in hopes of bringing in more tourists and business conventions. According to this article on Sunspot Internet service will be available free of charge to portable computers from the Baltimore Science Center to the World Trade Center along the touristy waterfront. Need to check your e-mail when sailing the Chesapeake Bay? Just dock at the Rusty Scupper and whip out your laptop."

Security

[MIKE HAWK TROLL]

How long before some idiot who assumes a level of security and has his/her credit card numbers sniffed, sues the City of Baltimore? And since there's no disclaimer given to people before they get access, there might actually be a case given most juries understanding of technology.

Leechers

[Mostly Monkey]

I wonder how long it's going to take for someone to suck up all the bandwidth by using this for warez uploading or spam? It's a nice idea otherwise.

Is this completely non-secure?

[sixteenraisins]

I mean, can you really take a Wi-Fi equipped laptop and download mp3's to your heart's content without being tracked down to your IP? Or launch a DDoS attack anonymously?

Again, I guess you hafta take the good with the bad. I can imagine it won't be long before these wireless providers start paying attention to security on these networks.

William

Re:Oh great.

[Dead_Medic]

Just wait till you have to register for the service, and a bill is passed that all your records are accessible for the governement, or better yet Baltimore sells info about your surfing habbits to a 3rd party. But i still think it is cool though.

Big Brother Factor?

[lugar]

It'll be interesting to see how closely the wireless access is monitored. A government-provided portal to the Internet. Scary thought. It's got to be monitored to some degree, right? Otherwise it's simply a great open portal for spammers.

Re:I've got it in my town...

[KodaK]

I don't know if I would rely on a free service for a business. You don't have any uptime gaurantees, and you don't know that it's going to be there tomorrow. If you don't absolutely have to have Internet access you could get away with it, but if you rely on it at all for income you may be setting yourself up for a huge disapointment.

Good luck with your business though, seriously.

Traffic Wireless

[LegendOfLink]

I live in Chicago, and let me tell you, what they (all big cities, not just Chicago) need is wireless connectivity through rush hour. It would be damn skippy to be able to read a few stories on Slashdot while sitting 45 minutes on the Ike without moving three inches.

Of course, I'm neglecting to think about all the accidents that might be caused...oh well, I guess we can sacrifice safety to read /.

You know...

[Meowfaceman]

I think maybe the crackheads and quite regular shootings I see every time I drive through that asshole of a city might need a little more attention than wireless at the Inner Harbor. I live 10 minutes from Baltimore, by the way.

The wrong attitude

[GillBates0]

But Paul Dowling, owner of Believe Wireless, a Towson-based company that charges customers $29.95 per month for wireless Internet access in Canton, Fells Point and elsewhere in the city, said he's worried that too much free service could drive companies such as his out of business or away from the Baltimore area.

"It's hard enough to compete against other companies. If the city starts providing for free what we make people pay for, it could really hurt us," Dowling said.

This is exactly the kind of attitude that hurts technology and customers. It results in monopolistic companies trying everything possible to stick to the existing model, and try and kill of competition (albeit superior in technology and better for the customer).

Microsoft's been trying to hurt Linux as much as possible, because it's a free alternative to their OS, which could potentially kill them.And ofcourse, our beloved RIAA's been trying to kill away a newer, technologically better solution, rather than trying to innovate and provide alternatives that people would pay for.

The right attitude should be to enhance their product so that customers would be willing to pay them for it, over the other cheaper (or free) alternative. Sheesh.

$29.95/month hot spot service

[deander2]

haha! this is a quote from a company that sells a $29.95/month hot spot service, and is upset with the city's new offering:

"It's hard enough to compete against other companies. If the
city starts providing for free what we make people pay for, it
could really hurt us," Dowling said.

DUH! ;-p

i do think that metered wifi access will fail as a business model. virtually every business where the cost of tracking and billing access is MORE than the cost of providing said access becomes just another gratuity. (like a public water fountain)

Re:Sweet for Otakon!

[Anonymous Coward]

If you think the wireless network at Harborplace will reach all the way up to Camden Yards and the Convention Center, then I've got a bridge to sell you.

Re:What inner harbour?

[mosch]

The inner harbor isn't that terrible. There always seems to be one or two bums asking for money or cigarettes, but it's not more prevalent than it is in any other major city, really. It's simply what happens when you put relatively affluent and impoverished areas near each other. I've never felt unsafe carrying cash for tasty food at Hampton's, Brighton's or the Rusty Scupper, as the tourist zone always seems to be fairly well policed. Personally, I'd love to be able to sit by the harbor and take care of my work while in Baltimore, instead of having to hole up in a hotel room that may or may not offer a relaxing view of water and boats.

Re:What is the point?

[jot445]

Would you like to book your next hotel room a little cheaper than you can by calling? Use the internet to book it, buy it at auction even, which can save you 60%-80%.

Maybe you want to know whether the marina has all of their boats rented for the next day? Luckily the marina just came online with their inventory system and it's now available on the web.

Just two fine examples of why you want the internet around even if you are vacationing. The internet is (also) a tool to be used to make your life easier. It is applicable in all walks of life, vacationing included.