Something that’s very unlikely, but would be totally cool, however, would be a free iPhone for those who participated. That would definitely stimulate interest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardriving#Confusion_with_piggybacking

I’d take this one step further. If desired, it should be possible on every Mac (that is WIRED to the internet) to likewise share the internet via its Airport wireless card. iMacs with wireless are the most obvious candidates – but if I plug my MBP into the net, I’m happy to securely share my internet from that too.

I’m not interested in money, but a free song every now and then would be a nice bonus. I do want to make sure it’s entirely secure, and my connection can’t be abused (I don’t have unlimited broadband!)

ps.
In Australia, the law says something like “your wifi is only legal within your property. It is recognised that the signal will go outside that – you are not permitted to attempt to amplify this signal in any way”. And most ISPs say that it’s your own personal use only. I setup my ISPs wifi sharing system because it is secure but it’s too expensive – the result is that a neighbour saw mine and totally unlocked their wifi for anyone to use (which I’m fine with).

I’m a personal user… but just think if you build this up… you can have LAN party like capabilities at other member houses. Like a badge of membership, walking into a home and seeing ‘AirportMobile’ pop up on your Touch WiFi, would be way cool. It could Guerilla market itself, and make for a new way of social networking.

Also, on the personal side, if you set this up and make it such that it’s an affiliate space, setting it up for I*Tunes credits for a personal user would make it an interesting marketing scheme (Be part of the community! And get Free Stuff)

In Minneapolis, a public WiFi could be affiliated as well. Instead of paying $19.95/month to the carried, Apple pay for you by a ‘kick-back’ to these muni (and college or not-for-profit), pennies per ’sale’ generated through their nets.

Finally, the data mining would need to be properly monitored… but if you can get GPS data on the connection, and the device connecting, and the available bandwidth at time of connection, Then Apple/AirportMobile could direct HW and bandwidth to locations that are gaining popularity (”Hey Business, we see you could use another Airport free on us!”)

That would bridge the divide all right. Unlikely? Sure. But here’s a few reasons I’ve talked about it before with friends:

1. Cable modems are cheap junk. The trouble I’ve had with them (many, many of them) while my Apple gear works just fine. Getting our essential monopoly of a cable company (Virgin in Britain) to come look at it after DAYS of regular outtage always required calling India. Guys: you stink!

2. P2P pirates give the Internet a bad name, right? How about Apple slap sensible restrictions that they are actually technically competent to police on us users, and for generous bandwidth we settle for the sort of “anti-freedom” network that Stallman and The Pirate Bay both dread? If it were Apple, I’d be willing to give it a try. Virgin’s universal throttling is a crock.

3. Can anyone say Kill the Middleman and make Apple happy? AT&T suck. Verizon suck. O2 suck. Virgin suck. It’s their nature. They are to the Internet what the labels are to music.

It sounds like a wonderful endgame. But how long to wait?

Seems not many people get that part of the equation of free wifi, it connects to a landline. You get charged for that.

I have had an idea for 15 years that works its way around this little issue.

I might write that up elsewhere though.

+61 (0)437 449912

Compensation went like this:
For folks in high density areas (IE: Downtown) where transient use would be high, credits would be issued to the point that the owner’s hotspot could equal free internet service to themselves. For folks like me, who live in suburban areas where transient usage is low, it would mean free access wherever I could find another subscriber and credits for borrowed bandwidth whenever someone used mine.

I returned the poll saying I would gladly take part. (I would love to cut out the greedy cell/tel networks.) I keep hoping something will come of it and certainly Apple is well poised to provide such a feature.

Just think of how badly this would upset those who want to monetize internet connectivity.

I like it.

I don’t doubt that Apple could make such an idea easy to implement and get a long list of willing participants. I don’t doubt the technical feasibility of such an idea, nor the willingness of many to participate.