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Wireless Networking Hardware

Paris, The City Of Wi-Fi? 221

Posted by timothy from the catacombs-too dept.
TheMatt writes "An article at the IHT describes an effort to make Paris one big Wi-Fi hotspot. The project, with partners like RATP and Cisco, if approved, will place two or three antennae outside each of the 372 Metro stations in Paris and link them through an existing fiber network that runs through the subway tunnels. The current pilot project is centered along the route of Bus No. 38. You can sign up for access to the pilot which is free until June 30."
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Paris, The City Of Wi-Fi? More

Paris, The City Of Wi-Fi?

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  • WiFi legal in France? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by xyzzy ( 10685 ) on Monday May 05, 2003 @01:57PM (#5883536) Homepage
    I thought there was some legal issue w.r.t. WiFi in France -- that the 2.4ghz spectrum area was reserved by the French military?
  • I'd like to see them attempt to cover Paris with WiFi alone. That would be a feat! No fiber backbones, just wireless nodes.

    • Re:Good plan but doesn't show scalability of wifi. (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Uhhh....Wasn't the Eiffel Tower designed as a radio antenna? Get out the linksys and some jumper cables...

    • Re:Good plan but doesn't show scalability of wifi. (Score:5, Informative)

      by z_gringo ( 452163 ) <z_gringo&hotmail,com> on Monday May 05, 2003 @02:49PM (#5884089)
      Paris is more wired than any city I know of. The Metro tunnels are packed with fiber, and there is always a Metro station nearby within the city limits. Also, the RER (Regional Trains) are packed with fiber, which extends the reach of Cable companies, and anyone else who wants to be part of the telecom crowd.

      Also, just as in the U.S., the long distance rail has loads of fiber running alongside it.

      All of this adds up to make france a VERY well connected country. Almost Anything you could possibly need will be found on the internet in France.

      • Except for public key encryption, and a few legal niceties.
      • All of this adds up to make france a VERY well connected country. Almost Anything you could possibly need will be found on the internet in France.

        Are they still charging local calls by the minute? All the internet infrastructure in the World won't do anything if it costs an arm and a leg to use it.

  • That would be excellent... (Score:5, Funny)

    by sulli ( 195030 ) * on Monday May 05, 2003 @01:59PM (#5883552) Journal
    except, of course, on the days when the network goes on strike. (Just like the RATP.)
    • except, of course, on the days when the network goes on strike. (Just like the RATP.)

      Oop, just posted a reply with similar sentiment, correcting an unembedded link.

      "Allo?"

      "Allo!"

      "I would like to geet a roouum."

      "un 'roouum'? Que est un 'roouum'?"

      "Ah said roouum, you know a place where you can go and sit?"

      "Ah, un 'room', alors, pardon m'seuir![NO CARRIER]

    • Which means at least 2 or three times a year ! a national sport here.

  • one bright side (Score:5, Funny)

    by greechneb ( 574646 ) on Monday May 05, 2003 @02:00PM (#5883570) Journal
    One plus... they already have a great tower to cover all of Paris.

    It's right <a href="http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk/
    "><b> here</b></a>

  • Pilot? (Score:5, Funny)

    by swordboy ( 472941 ) on Monday May 05, 2003 @02:01PM (#5883581) Journal
    I just signed up using my location as Detroit...

    *That* should give the Cisco engineers something to work for...

  • doubts (Score:5, Insightful)

    by selderrr ( 523988 ) on Monday May 05, 2003 @02:04PM (#5883605) Journal
    I don't know how succesfull this can be... There are 2 potential markets (leaving kids with portables as a marginal marketshare)

    - people of paris : why would they subsribe to such service ? They likely have a home in paris, with internet access a lot cheaper, more reliable and more secure.
    - visiting bussinessmen : why would they subsrcibe either ? Most hotels have access for a reasonable fee, and are not subscription based.


    Additionally, I seriously wouldn't want to sit with my portable open on a bench near a subway entrance in autumn/winter when it gets dark after 19:00. Subway stations are not exactly known for their safety, and walking around with a 2000Euro piece of electronics is asking for trouble.

    Additionally, i consider it silly to first sit in the subway for 15 minutes wit haportable and no connection, and then finally getting out in the open where you have to sit again to connect. Wouldn't it be much better to put the base stations INSIDE the trains ?

    Call me stupid, but my guess is that they'd better focus on appartment buildings : place a wifi hotspot on top of it, and you've got you whole building connected for low fee and without having to rewire the damd thing.

    • Re:doubts (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Usquebaugh ( 230216 ) on Monday May 05, 2003 @02:11PM (#5883698)
      Look up pervasive computing. Start to think outside the stupid screen/keyboard paradigm. If you have the infrastructure then the apps will come.

      • Re:doubts (Score:4, Insightful)

        by stefanlasiewski ( 63134 ) * <slashdotNO@SPAMstefanco.com> on Monday May 05, 2003 @02:21PM (#5883811) Homepage Journal
        Look up pervasive computing. Start to think outside the stupid screen/keyboard paradigm. If you have the infrastructure then the apps will come.

        Not always. There needs to be enough demand for your service

        The American telecom industry built a hell of alot of infrastructure, and many of those companies went out of business because there was no demand for their service.

        How many groundbreaking wireless companies have gone out of business in the last couple decades?

        Personally, I have little desire to pay $30 a month to carry a WIFI computer around with me all of the time. The best thing about computers is that you can get away from them.

        • Re:doubts (Score:4, Interesting)

          by Elvisisdead ( 450946 ) on Monday May 05, 2003 @03:07PM (#5884301) Homepage Journal
          Exactly. Look how well Ricochet [slashdot.org]did. It was built, and nobody came (no pun intended). It might make a comeback, as predicted, but we'll see.

          • Re:doubts (Score:4, Interesting)

            by Zenin ( 266666 ) on Monday May 05, 2003 @04:17PM (#5884996) Homepage
            Ricochet had it right when they started, then simply screwed it up over and over again as time passed.

            $29.95/month + I think $5 or $10 for modem rental, total about $40/month. Reasonable, if only 28.8.

            Oh, now you have to buy the modem for $300 upfront, well shit that's a high but it's a 1 time charge. This is the deal when I signed up. I loved my Ricochet access, most often working a 1/2 day at the coffee shop near the train, eat lunch, take train in to the office for the other 1/2. Some of my most productive coding was in that coffee shop. 28.8 was more then resonable for email and "work related" web surfing, and in a way it was a plus because it kept me from even trying to play games over it.

            Ricochet was great, the network was expanding, they had a huge deal cut with MCI/Worldcom (yah, but at the time this sounded good) to expand the network and upgrade it. When I signed up they promised speeds of 128k for the next modem versions (with "substantial" rebate for current modems) or 64k with existing modems.

            The new 128k service rolls out, for like $80/month. They never mentioned a more then double price hike for the new service when they signed me up... Oh yah, and if I want anything more then 28.8 I'll need to upgrade, my $300 less then a year old modem that was going to 64k on the new network now wasn't. We'll give you a $100 rebate off a new $300-500 modem for having the eariler one, but we'll still charge you $80/month to use it.

            "Thankfully" I still had my modem, speed, and price that I liked (28.8 was fine at $30/month). But no new such modems or accounts were offered. If anyone new wanted Ricochet, they needed to shell out huge cash for the 128k "service" which still had much less coverage then the 28.8.

            They were bankrupt within a year.

            Just as they went bankrupt (same month) they decide to "renew" my annual subscription for another $300 charge to my Wellsfargo credit card. Never mind that A) the service didn't exist anymore, B) I had canceled it, and C) that credit card account itself had been CANCELED over a YEAR previous. Wellsfargo still let them put a charge on it without question. They said I could "clearly dispute it and it would be no problem", but later said I had to first personally try to resolve it with the vender. ...What, the now dead company with no active phone or employees? Explaining this, did nothing. I finally gave up and decided if they want "their" cash they will have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

            To this day I still get a creditor of the month trying to get me to pay that now $500 "dept" that Wellsfargo allowed to be placed by a bankrupt company onto a credit card acount that had been canceled for over a year.

            Fuck Ricochet and Fuck Wellsfargo. Long live WiFi!!!!
            • Oh yah...and a couple months ago Ricochet bankruptcy creditors were also trying to get me to pay my "last bill". So now both Ricochet and Wellsfargo want me to independantly pay both of them hudreds of dollars for services never rendered.

              Again, long live WiFi!
            • You really just needed to take a few days, and tell them nobody would answer the phone. Happens all the time. It may not be too late to fix this, either.

              Also, you should send their collections department a copy of your final bill, and give them the company's phone number: generally, when you try and push some of the work back onto them, they will rather resolve it than actually do anything.

        • Personally, I have little desire to pay $30 a month to carry a WIFI computer around with me all of the time.

          You raise two questions in one sentence.

          First, the billing needs to be very convenient. I shouldn't have to sign up before planning a trip to Paris, and then cancel afterwards, or deal with stupid minimum contracts. The bill should be attached some regular bill, the way GSM roaming charges your phone.

          Secondly, the question is what the device you carry can replace. A really good electronic map,

          • Re:doubts (Score:3, Interesting)

            by stefanlasiewski ( 63134 ) *
            You're right. I can see this service being valuable to a tourist.

            I was looking from my perspective: Living in/near San Francisco for 8 years, I couldn't see this service being very useful to me. Sure, access to resturant reviews would be nice, but whenever I'm out with my friends, we can come up with plenty of recomendations without the aid of a computer. And I can pick up a free paper and flip to the resturant review section.

            In the short term, I do not see many tourists using this service. For all their

            • Re:doubts (Score:3, Insightful)

              by GlassHeart ( 579618 )
              access to resturant reviews would be nice, but whenever I'm out with my friends, we can come up with plenty of recomendations without the aid of a computer

              Yes, but do you know if the restaurant you want can accommodate you? What if you get to pick a few restaurants, and tell your device to reserve a table for six at the restaurants you selected (in some priority) automatically? What if you get to download today's menu while your friend drives you all there? What if you can order your food en route?

              For

        • Personally, I have little desire to pay $30 a month to carry a WIFI computer around with me all of the time.

          I would totally pay $30 a month to have my PDA/Cellphone/Camera have access to the net all the time.

          As the previous poster said, it's not about laptops, they're for old men anyway.
      • The French government is known for dumping vast amounts of cash into ambitious projects that go nowhere. Look at where the Minitel got us. Fifteen years ago, they gave us "free" network computers, they succeeded in putting network computers in *every* home, and yet when it comes to the internet, France is now one of the most backward countries among the West. Can you tell me what happened there.

        Mark my words, this little project will stifle competition, it will be mismanaged, and it will have no accounti

    • You forgot the other target market - having a good WiFi infrastructure in place makes it much easier on conquering armies as they establish positions throughout the city.

    • Re:doubts (Score:4, Informative)

      by mirko ( 198274 ) on Monday May 05, 2003 @02:22PM (#5883822) Journal
      A typical Parisian doesn't spend 15 minutes per day in the subs but at least more than an hour.
      There are at least 10 million people who live and work circa 50km from the Eiffel Tower. If they can spend their 3-4 daily travel hours surfing the net or IRC-ing their f3ll0ws, then they'll find it easier.

      • hotspots ARE NOT FOR TRAINS (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        re/read the article. There is no service on the metro. I know, i've read about this elsewhere, and that's definitely true on the test, and will probably be true for the final version due to problems with ground penetration (the wifi hotspots are above ground, stations are just a convenient location).

    • Bussiness subsrcibers (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      uhm, I've done this in Bryant Park, New York, and it was a great way to stay connected to people at home in Europe, without wires, without cost. I think that experiment is still running

      http://www.nycwireless.net/

      This is exactly what I was looking for as I'm going to Paris next week. There are lots of people wandering around the middle of town with laptops, sitting in the park with laptops. Of course you wouldn't be sitting outside with one in winter - however I don't really think that's the period they'd

    • Re:doubts (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The goal is to implement WiFi as an other way for rapid mobile phone access. As of now, GPRS seems to be overkill with mobile phones, but cameras on increasingly cheap mobile phones should change that. Sending a 64kB mail with photos, even on 3+2 hardware, is quite long. And that's not even taking those short mpeg4 clips into consideration.

      On the other hand, UMTS technology could do that, and much more, but since it's so expensive and nothing is ready yet, there is an opportunity for an other technology to

    • Re:doubts (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward
      There aren't just benches around subway stations in Paris... Isn't Paris known for its "ubiquitous" cafes? :-)

      Sure, people of Paris have a house somewhere... with an average transportation time of 45mn! (and that's for the lucky people). You don't just go home when you want to check your email in Paris.

      Also, I thought the next big thing was supposed to be PDAs. Sure there is GPRS, but with prices by the kb, I'd rather pay a (low) monthly fee and stay connected as much as I want to.

      The thing is, putting a
    • People in Paris do NOT have easy, cheap access to broadband in their homes (there is crappy, expensive ADLS, though). France is a quite underderdeveloped country when it comes to internet access, as they started late, thanks to their once high-tech Minitel. At least compared to my home-country, Sweden.

      This is a greate acomplishment of Mairie de Paris, who has allready taken some other rrevolutionary (at leas or the french people) steps in the direction of a more modern city - better cleaning of the streets

  • How Much? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by AlabamaMike ( 657318 ) on Monday May 05, 2003 @02:04PM (#5883609) Journal
    I was excited when I heard the announcement of the wide availability of wireless access at Marriott hotels, and such. However, the next time I stayed at a Marriott I was appalled by the access fees. Something makes me think this will follow the same course. I know the article says it will be free up to June 30th, but what will the fees be after then? If they follow the above mentioned WiFi access fees, it will be some type of per minute charge. I do believe that the people who build these networks deserve compensation, but the per-minute toll tends to become a money printing machine for the company in control. Anyone know of a good compromise?

    -A.M.

    • THe local starbucks charges 30$ per month. HEllOOOOOO! I tend to study at starbucks, so i could easly rack up 3-6 hours a week, but im not willing to shell out 30 bucks for that, especially if im not there for a few weeks. THink aobut it, anyone who has a wireless laptop, probably already is paying for a connection at home. THis would dprobably almost double the cost of most peoples connections. I woul dlove to see figures of how the service is working, as far as subscribers.

      MAybe if they went with 1$
      • $30/month makes some sense... your average home broadband connection costs about $40/month. And some people actually spend THAT much time in coffee shops.

        Also, many Starbucks stores are in strip malls with their backs to residential neighborhoods... it'd be a nice way to save $10/month if you happened to live within 1,000 feet or so.

        What I don't understand is why their prepaid service plan [t-mobile.com] ($50/300 minutes=$0.17/minute) costs more than their "pay-as-you-go" service plan ($0.10/minute). Am I missing somet
        • Also, many Starbucks stores are in strip malls with their backs to residential neighborhoods... it'd be a nice way to save $10/month if you happened to live within 1,000 feet or so.


          I live on Long Island, where there are many Starbucks around. Of all the ones I've been to, I could barely stand 5 feet outside of the store and get a connection. 1,000 feet definitely wouldn't make it. They're not trying to get a whole area, just their store.
      • The service provider at Starbucks is called T-Mobile HotSpot [starbucks.com], and is offered at $30 a month for unlimited access or $0.10 a minute. If you just used it intemittently to download your e-mail and surf the web only when needed you probably could get by for less than $10/month.

        JOhn
      • Europe tends to be more expensive than the US.

        The WiFi pilot at the Gare du Nord uses prepaid cards. The cheapest card costs 5 euros and provides 20 minutes of access [europemedia.net] (about US$5.65).

      • In Minneapolis, a bunch of places have tossed in with SurfThing [surfthing.com] to offer kiosk access along with Wi-Fi. For the price of a coffee at several Dunn Bros. coffee houses, I can use the provided computers to surf with a crippled IE (is that an oxymoron?) through a SafeSurf filter and watch the ads in the left column. Or I can fire up the lappie, turn off WEP, set the SSID to "SurfThing" and get a pipe with no ads and no restrictions (that I was able to find... SSH worked just dandy). With that deal available,

  • Wow, is it enough bandwidth? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Musashi Miyamoto ( 662091 ) on Monday May 05, 2003 @02:04PM (#5883615)
    Does 802.11(b or g) enough bandwidth to handle that many people? Not that everyone has a WiFi connection, but when you provide ubiquitious access, the applications will be created that utilize it.

    I don't think that 802.11 can handle more than a handful of users before it is swamped. I imagine that the city will be subdivided somehow so that broadcast traffic from one machine isn't repeated to every node in the city.


    • Does 802.11(b or g) enough bandwidth to handle that many people? Not that everyone has a WiFi connection, but when you provide ubiquitious access, the applications will be created that utilize it.

      I don't think that 802.11 can handle more than a handful of users before it is swamped. I imagine that the city will be subdivided somehow so that broadcast traffic from one machine isn't repeated to every node in the city.

      Well, at the IETF meetings (3 times a year), a Hilton hotel is normally wi-fi'ed

    • Umm, a properly built wireless network can basically scale infinitly. Microsoft has a wireless network at the Redmond campus where they have literally tens of thousands of people on a network in a fairly small area. The only major problem they have had is trying to do streaming video to an entire lecture hall sized room over .11b. Most broadcast traffic isn't actually passed in a well designed network anyways (especially one used by the public rather than inside a company).

  • Uhh... (Score:2, Funny)

    by neoscsi ( 29061 )
    can we call it Freedom Net? :)
    • Freedom net, Liberty net? Nah, state run stuff that's free as in beer but censorded is not very free. They have different notions of freedom than we do. Come to think of it, these days we have different notions of freedom than we do. Happy Cinco de Mayo, when you can't celebrate liberty you can always drink a beer to someone else's defeat.

  • France and encyption? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Gaetano ( 142855 ) on Monday May 05, 2003 @02:07PM (#5883642)
    Doesn't France have some really low limit on encryption? Like 48bit encryption?

    Does that apply to wireless as well?

    Anyone have more on this?
  • Isn't being connected to the Internet all the time sort of ... creepy?

    I mean, don't even corporate execs need to get away from the World Wide Web a few minutes in the day, and just zone out while on the subway, or riding the bus?

    Just because we can do it, doesn't mean it is a good idea. If Paris suffers a spike in crazy CEOs, then I say we call the trial a failure.
    • Personally (again, personally) I'd have to say not. I'm connected... not quite 24/7.. I dont have any access on the drive to/from work (so for about 80 minutes a day). I very much wish I could manage to be connected for that other 80, though my cell phone works well enough during that period to tide me over.

      I love being connected, accessible, and everything else that goes with being online. My home is wireless, and my work is about to be. I see no need to unplug. Heck, I take my laptop with me on vaca
    • Personally, I'd love to be connected to the Internet for all of my waking hours. I like having the option of looking up some parts information on a spur-of-the-moment decision, or being able to email my grandparents about visiting this weekend.

      I think the problems people point out about being too connected stem from having to respond to urgent emails and the like. There's an easy solution...just don't respond until you want to. There's no difference between putting off getting the email and putting of r
    • Isn't being connected to the Internet all the time sort of ... creepy?

      Just because you have a connection doesn't mean you have to be using it actively. Computers are nice because they have a, what's the word for it? Oh yeah, OFF button.

    • Isn't being connected to the Internet all the time sort of ... creepy?

      My cellphone's always talking to a tower at some basic level... never creeps me out. Course I always turn my phone off when I get on an Interstate, and then I pull out the calculator and figure out how long I have to wait before turning it back on before they can't say I was speeding. Ironic that my cell has a calculator in it that I can't use cause I need the phone to be off. Oh well, my knees grip the wheel close enough, and the da
    • If Paris suffers a spike in crazy CEOs, then I say we call the trial a failure.

      The naked ones are sane?

  • Why would there be a need to "sign up", if you want to roll out public wifi, put it up and let people know its it up. This may be just for the pilot. but there should be no need for sign ups or authentication systems when they do roll this out. Public wifi has many security risks, running ethereal on a public ap is very scary. Instead of trying to lock it up, just inform people what they need to do to keep their info safe.

  • ObJoke (Score:1, Redundant)

    by Phrogz ( 43803 )
    <insert obligatory eiffel tower as antenna joke here>

  • Not total coverage (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Zaphod B ( 94313 ) on Monday May 05, 2003 @02:15PM (#5883736) Journal
    Look at the RATP's metro map. Unless they're planning to include all of the RER stations in that, Paris will not be totally covered by Wi-Fi. Even given a 300-metre radius, which is probably being hopelessly optimistic, you won't have full coverage the way you do with GSM wireless coverage - the stations are usually more than 300m apart, not to mention the 'shadows' created by buildings, etc. in the path of the signal.

    Now, if they mounted transmitters on each wireless tower or minitower or microtower, you'd have 100% coverage of the city.

    Nevertheless, it is a good idea.
  • I think I'll stay with my freedom wi-fi, thank you!

  • How would wifi really be used in an RATP station (Score:5, Interesting)

    by derekb ( 262726 ) on Monday May 05, 2003 @02:19PM (#5883779) Journal

    Just thinking about my work I've done in Paris.. there are many times the stations are simply swamped with people. Laptop wifi is just out of the question. Far too many people and no real area to sit down. Besides, you only have minutes in a subway stop before your train comes. Even with Hibernate, my W2K box takes a while to be ready for use.

    That really only leaves handheld devices, like a trusty ole iPaq. But.. with anyone with an iPaq (or laptop for that matter) probably also carries a mobile telephone - probably with bluetooth.

    So in the 5 minutes you've got in the subway station, why not just go to street-level, turn on your PDA, and connect via GPRS. The iPaq with bluetooth is fantastic for downloading and running a quick scan on your email.

    Plus if you really want to sit down and check your mail or surf, then zip off to a Brasserie for a coffee too. .. this idea just doesn't seem practical, but maybe I'm missing something. It seems more of a bandwagon folks are jumping on.

    Gare du nord now has WiFi.. I spend many hours sitting there waiting for my trains. Hey that's a great idea - wire up the trains themselves with WiFi. A Thalys or TGV with WiFi access would rock.

  • Largest Wi-Fi antenna EVER. (Score:5, Funny)

    by pmbuko ( 162438 ) <pmbuko AT gmail DOT com> on Monday May 05, 2003 @02:20PM (#5883790) Homepage
    I can see it now: Pringles cans mounted all over the Eiffel Tower...

    The hard part is finding enough French people to eat the chips.
    • My god man, people in Europe (at least France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria) are fanatic about Pringles.

      Often I'd go to a corner store or a kiosk to buy a bag of potato chips, but NO! All they had was pringles, candy and a bunch of small canned herbal drinks like "Redbull". Personally, I thought the "sexual vitality" drinks that came with a condom were very amusing.

      I ate more pringles during my 3 weeks in Europe then in the last 3 years in America!

      Kettle chips... mmmm...

  • WiFi Icon = FRANCE (Score:5, Funny)

    by Pzykotic ( 72530 ) on Monday May 05, 2003 @02:20PM (#5883797)
    Hey, that icon slashdot uses for WiFi stories certainly looks familiar...

  • free wifi cities (Score:4, Interesting)

    by asv108 ( 141455 ) * <asv@@@ivoss...com> on Monday May 05, 2003 @02:21PM (#5883801) Homepage Journal
    Seattle [seattlewireless.net], The Bay area [bawug.org], and many other cities have community driven, completely free, no sign-up, public AP's using donated bandwidth. I'm sure there are many others too..

    Here in State College, PA I usually eat at a locally owned coffee and bagel shop called Irvings or a large regional grocery chain called Wegmans. Both places offer free wifi, the local Starbucks doesn't even offer wifi and if it did you would need to pay ~$6/hr.. If two places are of equal quality, but one offers free access, where would you go?

  • Is that like a TRAP but encoded in 64bit industrial-strength WEP ?
  • My laptop was stolen at the Paris airport, you insensitive clod!

    Gendarme! Gendarme! I'l n'ces pa a la Orinoco Gold carte de la searchimande!

    2.4gHz?? Moi? Non, regardes CowboyNeal!

    Disclaimer - I have no idea what any of that means.

  • Faites l'amusement de nous si vous souhaitez. Mais au moins nous obtenons la connexion de WiFi pour hors des ordinateurs. Vous parole biseautZe qui au sujet de New York
    • now you know babelfish is posting on /.

    • Re:Ha Ha Ha (Score:3, Funny)

      by Khalid ( 31037 )
      This seems to be translated from English by an automatic translation engine :)

      In French you would say :

      Moquez vous de nous tant que vous voulez, mais au moins nous on a une connection WiFi pour nos ordinateurs.

      Sorry I didn't understand the last sentence !

  • Wi-Fi IN the Metro (Score:5, Interesting)

    by z_gringo ( 452163 ) <z_gringo&hotmail,com> on Monday May 05, 2003 @02:30PM (#5883904)
    Where they really need Wi-Fi is inside the metro tunnels. Surely they could install some leaky coax or seomthing that will make it work for the people actually travelling in the Trains.

    I live in Paris (I'm not french, my work sent me here), and I have to travel the full length of Line 1 each day. The trip from Chateau de Vincennes to La Defense each day is 45 minutes to an hour, and if I could make my laptop work for that time, that would cut my workday by nearly the same amount as my travel time. I've been waiting for them to do the same thing with the mobile phones. Right now, the phones work in some tunnels, and not in others.

    It's true that all the cables and fiber run through the metro tunnels, that makes it easy to hook up any building with fiber, because nothing is very far from a a Metro station. Both Cable Internet and DSL here in Paris is available everywhere.

    • Having travelled in Paris on-and-off over the past 20 years, I always get a sense that the metro is crowded during rush hour and sort of dangerous during the really off-peak late evening hours. Might be just a perception.

      Could you comment on how useable this would really be to you? Assuming you start at the beginning of the line you would have a seat, but how quickly does the train fill up and would you feel safe sitting there surfing the net and doing your work during rush hour?

      Would you be concerned

      • Re:Wi-Fi IN the Metro (Score:4, Informative)

        by z_gringo ( 452163 ) <z_gringo&hotmail,com> on Monday May 05, 2003 @03:25PM (#5884486)
        Good points, and good questions. Yes, since, I start at the beginning of the line (both ways), I can ALWAYS get a seat. And yes, it fills up quickly, and through the city centre, it's standing room only, which doesn't bother me because I'm seated. :-) Anyway, These days I can read the newspaper with no problem, and that's what I do each day on they way in. (I also try to just miss the rush hour on the way in, since I have some flexibility.) The laptop takes up even less room than the newspaper.

        I would feel completely safe on line 1. It is all open between the cars. There are indeed some lines where I would feel uncomfortable with anything expensive, but Line 1 is really safe.

        I wouldn't be too concenered with Corporate espionage really. I would obviously save anything really sensitive for when I arrived at the office, however, it is important to remember that there are always people reading over your shoulder. They aren't necesarily spying.. They are just bored. :-)

        So, in conclusion, yes, it's pretty safe, and it would work for me, but on other lines, (2 and 7 for example), I would be much more reluctant to try to do much real work.

  • Not the first city-wide 802.11 network, by far (Score:4, Informative)

    by gigabitme ( 132358 ) on Monday May 05, 2003 @02:33PM (#5883926)
    In addition to the networks listed in other posts, this one [netgroupinc.com] has been running for about a year and a half now.

  • From the bus38 link [online.fr] "Hello! Be the very welcome aboard Bus 38!"

    Who did their translation, Babelfish?

  • I was trying to come up with (Score:3, Funny)

    by IWantMoreSpamPlease ( 571972 ) on Monday May 05, 2003 @02:36PM (#5883957) Homepage Journal
    a good joke about wardriving and France's military surrender history, but nothing springs to mind.

    I'm willing to bet if enough /. geeks go wardriving and are asked about it, the French would surrender to them anyway ;)

  • Tallinn already has something similar (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Midnight Thunder ( 17205 ) on Monday May 05, 2003 @02:38PM (#5883972) Homepage Journal
    I have been in contact with a friend in Tallinn [tallinn.ee], Estonia and he tells me that Tallin is full of publically accessible Wi-Fi hot spots. You can see more on this page [www.wifi.ee], referenced at Wifi Free hot spots [wififreespot.com].

  • Slow down (Score:2, Funny)

    by bigpat ( 158134 )
    Wait! Stop! Nobody can't go forward with this until all the security and health and environmental issues have been properly discussed in committee and enacted into law!! Not to mention economics, we will need to sponsor a study to find out if this is even economically viable and what is our common interest, perhaps a study of 30 million to a group that has expertise in these areas. A two to five year study, might be enough time for an initial report with recommendations... on the goals that we should pu
  • it would make much more sense for Cisco to back a city that makes it difficult to run services. One in particular that comes to mind is Venice, instead of fighting with the waterways why not just broadcast across the city so that everyone can easily tap into the wireless access. I realize from what I've seen/read that it is more of a old world city so maybe technology isn't a high priority there but just think of what it could do to help revitalize it.

  • Viva WiFi! (Score:3, Funny)

    by nxs212 ( 303580 ) on Monday May 05, 2003 @03:13PM (#5884366)
    Hey, I see nothing wrong with sipping cappuchinos at the café, ogling at well-endowed waitresses and reading the latest slashdot article on my tablet..AND gettting paid for doing remote desktop support :)
    On Fridays substitute coffee with cheap red wine.
  • is not done by the French. Usually, it is done by another country (recently, the Germans).

    The French are good at warsurrendering, though.

  • Atlanta receiving something similar (Score:4, Informative)

    by taeric ( 204033 ) on Monday May 05, 2003 @03:32PM (#5884550)
    While much smaller in scope, Atlanta, GA is receiving something similar. The folks over at www.freebeeatlanta.com are setting up hotspots in a major area of Atlanta for free use. I am somewhat skeptical of their business model, though I have high hopes for it.

    Their old site mentioned possibly rolling out in other cities, as well; unfortunately, the new site is less than informative.

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