Idleaire closing

Gotta love them scrappies they keep me having a job

 

Well I am posting from an IDLEAIRE wifi connection right now at a TA in NM, the TA still has the Idleaire up, and the net is working as if they aren't shut down. I previously saw someone say its a t1 line at something like 800 a month? I saw a t1 line 300 a month. Las Cruesas, NM

If you have oh lets say 100 locations, thats 30,000 a month in fees.

Lets say they have 50,000 subscribers, across the trucking industry. Thats still 60k in profit.

Alot more people used their wireless then used their cabthinger. It is viable to offer a 'great' internet service that you can get across truckstops. Even using T1 lines.

If I had the capital I'd be willing to bet I could find locations to let me install wireless for a lease fee. And of course, be smart about it, chose large truckstops with 100 or more parking spots, charge reasonable monthly access fees and ACTUALLY maintain the equipment would be a good start...

 

800 seems kind of high for a T1, my company pays less than 300 per.

It sounds like a good idea, but the upkeep is a lot more complicated, and you'd be competing with cellular aircards for service.

I think the pilots went thru a dozen or so wifi providers B4 finding the current one - and the service is still terrible.

Would be hard to charge a decent money making rate per subscriber.

The big municiple drive for "free" or even low cost wifi as a public service demonstrated as well.

ISP fees usually kill these programs off (intentional? who knows), and it's a shame.

 

Cell cards have one thing working against them, and that's the hard 5gb limit. it sounds rather generous, until you start watching youtube or if you do a lot of video chat (i do, and i have to use a service like sightspeed, which allows you to manually set the amount of bandwidth you use, unlike msn, yahoo, or skype.) I do occasionally subscribe to flying j's networks, when the cell card is getting close to the limit, because they do have service in some areas where there is no flying j, but other competing wifi services in some of the Petro's, prior to the T/A takeover. Choice is good, when it works. Loves is the last of the chains that needs to get it together on wifi. They lost their main provider (Siricomm) some time ago. They are busy building new locations and upgrading older ones (Hooker, OK was good, but WHEN will they get around to Lamar, CO?)... so i guess wifi is on the back burner for some places for the time being.

There are pockets of muni wifi networks here and there. I know of a few spots in Ontario, CA that have it working, and it's not terrible, but it is heavily throttled, so it's not that useful except for very low bandwidth music or email and web surfing without video embedded. better than nothing, i suppose....

 

cricket has aircards with unlimited access for $40 with no contract and free equipment. but if you look at their coverage map...totally useless for anyone who travels at ALL.... Maybe they'll be able to expand their network soon.

One thing i dont like about my tmobile aircard is i cant roam on it. Its not that it costs money, it just WONT. I'd like to see it be able to do nationwide roaming for free. T-mobiles 3G network isnt great but its expanding very rapidly, and a couple of our drop yards have on-site cell towers that give me 3g.....

 

Exactly, I've got an aircard and I almost never use it. For anything outside of a 3g spot its useless for anything but browsing or email and only small emails at that. Anything with flash makes me cry when on the slower networks outside cities. I had a monthly idleaire and monthly flying j sub. Flying j was at one time superb but I've found since I've come back that their network is leaving much to be desired in the signal department. Their signal is weak even in the resturant. These days it flucuates from full to dead and this is with 3 different machines, three different os, and three different makes of wifi card. I can connect to idleaire fine, to hotspots in other places no issue. Flying j's? In and out regardless of where I park.

I think if you provided a GOOD reliable wifi to drivers and crossed the ts brand with it you'd make a profit a good one. Wifi allows speed you need to watch videos or download, and its lat tends to be lower then the cell cards which for online gaming is important. When we plan downtime a wifi network is in the list of considerations, we won't stop were there isn't one. Idleaire used to be my preference there. I've even been known to rent a cheap motel for it lol. But the tv/bed/shower help too in fact for what one night of idleaire costed (the air thinger) I could, and the hotel has a bathroom I don't have to share with strangers, no 1 mile walk to pee, a clean shower with no presents in the soap, a tv I can change the channels on... yeah the service thing was too expensive. Had they priced it for around 1.00 an hour they'd still be around.

 

My Verizon aircard is blocking a certain site for no apparent reason. That reminds me, I have to call and give them an earfull.

 

google "Millenicom" UNLIMITED for $69.99

 

Yeah, seems Verizon F'd the D on that one. Piss off computer savvy nutbags? GREAT IDEA!

 

It depends.

I have two cards, Verizon and Criket, I use Cricket for d/ling and Verizon when I can not use Cricket.