Home > Ramblings > Those who do not learn, part 2

Those who do not learn, part 2

October 30th, 2008

At the moment, I am sitting in a Starbucks in downtown Palo Alto.  Normally, I’d be getting my internet fix via AT&T/Starbucks.  Instead, I’m using the free WiFi provided by AnchorFree.  Their revenue model seems to involve placing banner ads across the tops of all pages accessed via their service.  Just one problem: people like me, who always use VPNs or tunnels when on unsecured WiFi connections.  With my web browsing burried in an SSH connection, I see no ads.

Let’s see.  Ad-supported “free” internet connections.  Nobody has tried that before, right? Ha.

Back in the late 1990s there was a service called Freewwweb.  At the time, they offered free dialup access in exchange for… well, I don’t remember exactly, but I know that it didn’t involve extra downloads, banners, proxies, or the like.  Quite the ambiguous business model.  Of course, it was the bubble, so revenue didn’t matter.  Things were good until the bubble popped, and Freewwweb went away.

I wonder how long AnchorFree will last.

  1. Isaac
    October 31st, 2008 at 08:22 | #1
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    Freewwweb wasn’t the first, either; I think they appeared in 1999. Back when I got my first Windows PC (a 133MHz Pentium) in early 1997, there was a Bay Area ISP called @Bigger.net that offered lifetime unlimited dialup for $60 as long as you kept a window with a banner ad open (I always just moved it all the way over and down so you could only see a corner). It came with a year’s worth of email, after which you’d pay $10/year for email. Needless to say, it didn’t last long: http://news.cnet.com/2100-1033-217392.html
    And even before @Bigger.net, there was Cyberfreeway: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/1997/07/4960

  2. Mark Smith
    October 31st, 2008 at 15:47 | #2
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    Actually, ad supported free wi-fi is only one part of our business. While we have gotten away from the ‘router’ model that you are experiencing in Palo Alto – we have brought up municipalities including several larger-scale projects in NYC.

    And to your point on VPNs – that’s exactly what we help with. Yes, it’s ad supported (urrgghh) – but that’s the only way we can offer it for free. So yes, http://www.hotSpotshield.com offers a free enterprise strength VPN – in exchange for viewing the ad frame in top of browser. Actually, we’re always interested in user feedback – we know ads aren’t always ideal, but they do work and allow us to offer things that wouldn’t otherwise be free.

    And we do care about privacy, that’s why we started http://www.privacycops.net. None of our services store any personally identifiable information for purposes of ads or related revenue.

    Hope this helps.

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