Truck and Barter

I've no desire to see the government get into business doing anything it doesn't already do. But every so often I see a small reminder that wireless networking just might be a huge boon to large parts of the population if it were uiquitous and cheap.

This weeked I flew to Chicago to attend the wedding of a longtime friend and now a current coworker. This, of course, meant I had to fly back to DC. Which, as luck would have it, was covered by thunderstorms. The delay set in motion a series of events that culminated in one of the flight attendants on my plane having to stop work, for she had hit the maximum hours-per-whatever that had been negotiated by her union. Of course, she lives in the DC area, and flew back on our plane with us. But we all had to wait in the plane for an hour and a half while they found another person who could staff the plane to meet FAA guidelines. The plane was one of those small things, with two seats on either side of the aisle and requires you to walk out onto what feels and sounds like the runway itself to board. Meanwhile, the reputation for baggage loss at Dulles had reached legendary proportions. (On one flight for the carrier I was on, 30 of the 49 people on the flight didn't get their baggage when they deplaned.)

Which is all nervous-making to say the least. Connections were being blown entirely. Everyone was asking if their connections in DC were delayed as well, since they understandably wanted to know if they would be able to get out again. The attendant didn't know. The pilot was trying to find an available crew member. And we were sufficiently far away from the terminal that no one could walk over to get an updated list of flights.

We were not, however, too far away for one guy and his bright idea. Airports like O'Hare have been gearing up WiFi like mad. So he powered up his laptop, turned on the wireless card, and got to the website for the air carrier. He patiently looked up everyone's connecting flight numbers to give them the new times of departure. Everyone was thoroughly grateful, and the mood of the plane eased considerably. Even the people who got bad news were resigned, and started making alternate plans calmly.

The airline couldn't do this on its own. But the ability to access the information was a major factor in keeping everyone pretty calm, and in preventing an already uncomfortable event into a shouting match (plenty of which I've seen over the years).

I taught in inner-city Chicago for a year or so, working with kids to develop technology skills. Access to the internet for research, entertainment, and basic communication skills was essential. But it was incredibly expensive for schools to get on their own. Had the issue been just the purchase of lots of wireless cards, it would have been simple. But wiring an old school isn't even a concern when the internet companies don't have local access terminals in the area. Being able to access information, to me, could be a massive shift in how schools perform, the motivation of students, and more. At this point, I have little but anecdotal evidence to support that, but buy me a beer, and I'll walk you through it all.

As the technology improves to expand distance and speed, a lot of money is going to be spent on protecting people from accessing a wireless network (since the wider the coverage, the more potential for free-riders). Sometimes I wonder if the money wouldn't be better spent on protecting individual computers, and making the wireless network something akin to the telephone in reach and ease of access.

But then, I'd never presume to tell the market how it ought to run.