Welcome to Gahtan’s Technology and Internet Law Blog

I was looking through a Circuit City flyer this morning and see that Vonage offers a US$175 subsidy to new subscribers. And that’s not just in equipment subsidies but actually includes a significant cash back component (which could be up to US$135 in cash to top of free equipment). There’s also a free month of service thrown in (US$24.99). Throw in some cash for the reseller and it looks like Vonage is spending $200-250 to acquire each new subscriber. Assuming its profit margin on its service if 50%, it would still take almost 2 years to recoup the acquisition cost. Wow.

I recently acquired one of Belkin’s new Skype Wi-Fi handsets and had an opportunity to conduct some testing. Overall, I am not happy with the results and have compiled a list of issues that I have identified.

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Paypal is apparently beta testing a virtual credit card product. Great way to allow your customers to shop at merchants that do not accept Paypal.

I’ve seen businesses, particular food establishments, offer wi-fi as a means of differentiating themselves from their competition or to stay competitive with their competition. However, on a recent visit to Bagel Nosh in Santa Monica, California, I noticed a sign that read “wifi free zone”. Since they did not appear to have any usable signals within their establishment, I assume the notice meant “wifi-free zone” rather than “wifi free-zone”. In other words, they were purporting to offer a place to sit and drink a coffee without being bothered by other customers typing away on their laptops. Well, except those that have high speed broadband service from their cellular provider. And why pick on wifi. Cellphone users can be much more of an annoyance. So is this just a gimmick?

I was recently looking at acquiring a Linksys WIP 330 voip wi-fi handset. As far as I know, its the only voip wi-fi handset that has a built-in web browser that can be used to authenticate through public hotspots that require users to accept a click through agreement. So for example, if someone wanted to use any of the free public wi-fi facilities in Burbank, West Hollywood, Santa Monica or similar cities, or wanted to use a paid public wi-fi network such as T-mobile’s, then this is currently the only way to go.

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