imran*

Category: Broadband

  • More Fraudband

    Telenet With my extensive travel this year, I’ve found myself buying a lot of wifi access at hotels and airports…

    • $9.95 for an hour’s in-flight access with Connexion.
    • $5.95/day at the Serrano with Citi-Net.
    • €10/day with Orange in Paris.

    The cost of each service is excessive, but less irritating than having to signup for a new service at each location and zero tech support from the hotel. Finally, in Brussels last week, at the Bedford Hotel, I balked at the ridiculous €20/hour charge (see screenshot).

    When I check into a hotel, I don’t register for and pay electricity, TV and gas providers, so why do I need to join a broadband provider

    UPDATE: The Good Hotel Guide has criticised the cost of wifi in UK hotels.

  • Boredband/Fraudband

    Yes, yes – the 2.0 suffix is way overused. We (Orange) currently have 2.75m Livebox wireless routers installed in homes across Europe, with around 275’000 of those installed here in the UK. That looks like success, however we’re currently in the midst of a broadband price war; Sky, Orange and Carphone Warehouse have driven the consumer cost of broadband to zero in the UK.

    So where can operators like Orange begin to add additional value to a plain old broadband line? Music? TV? Cellphones? Free Calls? Everyone’s selling the same bundles. But how about just making that broadband line really useful and helping regular broadband-y activities become a little better – empower users to do the things they’re already doing, but better. Some ideas…

    • Orange Metro – turn 2.75m Liveboxes into the world’s biggest wifi hotzone, squishing FON, Wibiki and Placesight.
    • Orange Mediabox – a thin-client that can backup your computers, download torrents, share iTunes libraries and serve your files anywhere on the Web…something like this?
    • Orange Me – a place to manage store, share and syndicate your data, personas and relationships.

    Users aren’t going to buy their connectivity, communications and entertainment from one provider – so it’s perhaps sensible to grant them the freedom to unbundle – there’s still much value to be added to broadband.