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Steve Jobs' Vision of Widespread Free Public Wi-Fi Guest Networks Yet to Take Hold

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Apr 12, 2001
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In a commentary piece arguing for users to open up free guest networks on their Wi-Fi access points to the public, Re/code's Walt Mossberg shares the story of how Steve Jobs saw such networks as the future of Internet access, supplementing cellular networks to allow for faster and broader access for users.

Mossberg notes that Jobs envisioned the open Wi-Fi networks during development of the original iPhone, which was hampered by a "lousy, sluggish cellular-data network." An open Wi-Fi network built on the cooperation of both business and private citizens who were wiling to share their Wi-Fi connections with strangers would have addressed this problem by offering another connectivity option for iPhone users.
His idea was to get as many wireless router makers as possible to build in a "guest network" option -- essentially a second Wi-Fi network, securely walled off from the rest of the home network, and with its own name. Then, he hoped that the industry would encourage people to share their bandwidth with strangers via these guest networks. That way, a smartphone user could walk around, moving from one Wi-Fi hotspot to another, without logging in -- much like people using cellular data move from one cell tower to another.
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While there are certainly potential issues with security and bandwidth hogging by guest users, Mossberg argues that these issues are not insurmountable, and in fact some companies have made strides in this area. On a micro level, Apple's AirPort base stations have supported guest networks since 2009, and on a broader scale, some Internet service providers such as Comcast have been working to turn customers' home routers into Wi-Fi access points available to other customers as a public network.

Use of Wi-Fi to supplement cellular coverage is also growing, with one example being T-Mobile's effort in the U.S. to route phone calls over a more reliable Wi-Fi network instead of the cellular connection. Apple is adding iPhone support for the feature as part of iOS 8 later this year.

Article Link: Steve Jobs' Vision of Widespread Free Public Wi-Fi Guest Networks Yet to Take Hold
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/08/05/steve-jobs-free-wifi/
Orlandoech

Orlandoech

macrumors 68040
Jun 2, 2011
3,341
887
Seems... secure.

This will never happen. Not many, if anyone, will ever risk their bandwidth due to malicious people.

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theheadguy said:
Quite a few things he envisioned have yet to take hold, like the Apple TV.
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Apple TV or an Apple TV set?
 
W

winston1236

macrumors 68000
Dec 13, 2010
1,902
319
I immediately disabled "Guest" network on my Comcast router. Strangers are not welcome to slow down my connection! ;)
 
ZMacintosh

ZMacintosh

macrumors 65816
Nov 13, 2008
1,445
684
the concept is novel...but no way with all these security breaches into secured networks...that "wall" between guest and private home network could be just as accessible.
 
A

AppleDude

macrumors member
Jun 14, 2006
51
9
No Brainer

For most of my adult life, I've lived in congregate housing and I've always opened up my WiFi as a public service and never had problems. Yes, I know--I've been lucky.

Now that many routers are dual band, I am able to keep a secure network for myself and an open one for guests.

I do this for one reason--I deplore waste. No need for someone to spend $40/month for access when a neighbor has surplus capacity.
 
T

tasset

macrumors 6502a
May 22, 2007
572
200
Love the idea, in a tree hugger hippie community sort of way. But the reality is as a property owner by sharing your network with passerby's you open yourself up to being shutdown by your ISP from an MPAA DMCA complaint or worse have the feds raid you because someone downloaded child porn on your network. And as the passerby you run the risk of someone on a public network setting up a honeypot to sniffing packets for personal information or a retailer collecting information on you and selling it to marketers/data miners. Heck I am sure ISPs will plant FUD to deter people from doing it too.
There's just too many human hurdles to put trust in this.
 
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winston1236

macrumors 68000
Dec 13, 2010
1,902
319
AppleDude said:
For most of my adult life, I've lived in congregate housing and I've always opened up my WiFi as a public service and never had problems. Yes, I know--I've been lucky.

Now that many routers are dual band, I am able to keep a secure network for myself and an open one for guests.

I do this for one reason--I deplore waste. No need for someone to spend $40/month for access when a neighbor has surplus capacity.
Click to expand...

I agree to a point, but I live in a building with probably close to 60 networks just within range of my unit. Thats too much risk with that many people plus their friends.
 
Gaspode67

Gaspode67

macrumors regular
Jul 30, 2008
170
137
Oxon, UK
It does exist

In some countries, this sort of system already exists. It's called Fon. Here in the UK, it's branded as a part of BT, who are one of their partners. It's a dedicated separate guest network limited to a max speed of 512k, so I hardly notice it on my 46Mb download speed (assuming anyone's using it in my small town). It's been handy on the times when the phone signal's been poor but there's been a wifi spot active.
 
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xmichaelp

macrumors 68000
Jul 10, 2012
1,815
626
AppleDude said:
For most of my adult life, I've lived in congregate housing and I've always opened up my WiFi as a public service and never had problems. Yes, I know--I've been lucky.

Now that many routers are dual band, I am able to keep a secure network for myself and an open one for guests.

I do this for one reason--I deplore waste. No need for someone to spend $40/month for access when a neighbor has surplus capacity.
Click to expand...

You are a good person. I wish I lived near you. ;)
 
HyperX13

HyperX13

macrumors 6502
Sep 3, 2009
351
7
My neighbor had his WIFI open because he didn't know jack about IT. Some perv found this open wifi and would download and upload child porn.

Let's just say it took my neighbor over 1 year to clear his name. And the only reason he cleared it is because my security cameras caught the perv that would sit in his little car at at the curb.
 
ppc_michael

ppc_michael

Guest
Apr 26, 2005
1,498
2
Los Angeles, CA
MacRumors said:
Use of Wi-Fi to supplement cellular coverage is also growing, with one example being T-Mobile's effort in the U.S. to route phone calls over a more reliable Wi-Fi network instead of the cellular connection. Apple is adding iPhone support for the feature as part of iOS 8 later this year.
Click to expand...

...what? Don't iPhones support this already? I've been doing it for a while now with Tmobile and an Android phone.
 
Diastro

Diastro

macrumors member
Jul 12, 2010
78
0
Veldhoven, the Netherlands
ISPs UPC and Ziggo in the Netherlands have been rolling this out for over a year now. They're calling it WifiSpots. A secondary network is built-in to all Wi-Fi enabled cable modems and linked to a central authentication system. If you are a customer, any WifiSpots-enabled access point accepts your credentials and allows you to connect to the internet. Both companies claim to have over 500.000 WifiSpots-enabled APs operational already.

It's a good idea technically but it won't work. Because privacy and free choice. Especially not in the Netherlands were internet connectivity is probably one of the most liberal.

Oh and you can easily turn it off if you have such a modem. And it doesn't work on a Wi-Fi router from a third party (which you should use) because Linksys, Netgear, Asus, D-Link and TP-Link (95% of the market) aren't stupid enough.
 
M

mbh

macrumors 6502
Jul 18, 2002
400
73
My cable modem data transfer quota is way too low to let random people use it up for free. (Not to mention the security and liability issues.) No thanks.
 
KdParker

KdParker

macrumors 601
Oct 1, 2010
4,793
998
Everywhere
Really.

People working together for the common good, and not one of them will be a self serving thief. I just don't have that much faith in people.
 
I

icanhazapple

macrumors 6502a
Feb 26, 2009
578
1,246
For the people freaking out over the security issues over sharing wifi with strangers - Comcast, for example, requires the other person to provide their Xfinity credentials. They also know your social security number, so they've verified your identity. They can certainly differentiate who was browsing what on a wifi hotspot, if a warrant was provided.

Security and identity for public wifi use can be established in 2014, this has already been solved with some ISP deployments.
 
thedeejay

thedeejay

macrumors 65816
Aug 16, 2012
1,338
51
Toronto, Canada.
AppleDude said:
For most of my adult life, I've lived in congregate housing and I've always opened up my WiFi as a public service and never had problems. Yes, I know--I've been lucky.

Now that many routers are dual band, I am able to keep a secure network for myself and an open one for guests.

I do this for one reason--I deplore waste. No need for someone to spend $40/month for access when a neighbor has surplus capacity.
Click to expand...

You're one of those lucky ones with a surplus. I have 250GB a month and 90% of the time I hit about 230GB and sometimes go over. If I did have unlimited however, I would do the same.
 
W

winston1236

macrumors 68000
Dec 13, 2010
1,902
319
icanhazapple said:
For the people freaking out over the security issues over sharing wifi with strangers - Comcast, for example, requires the other person to provide their Xfinity credentials. They also know your social security number, so they've verified your identity. They can certainly differentiate who was browsing what on a wifi hotspot, if a warrant was provided.

Security and identity for public wifi use can be established in 2014, this has already been solved with some ISP deployments.
Click to expand...

Very true, but Comcast doesn't guarantee the speed will be maintained with guest users on your network.
 
Flight Plan

Flight Plan

macrumors 6502a
May 26, 2014
846
788
Southeastern US
I pay over $130 usd per month to Verizon for my cell and data usage. i pay over $120 per month for my home phone and internet.

I'll share, but only if there's SOME discount in it for me. Until then, my internet portal is closed, because it's already too slow for what I'm paying now anyway.
 
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pacohaas

macrumors 6502a
Jan 24, 2006
516
3
Need better multi-network Wifi chips first that are able to connect to more than one Access Point at a time. If you've ever walked through a large location with multiple APs like an airport and hoped to have a podcast download complete without erroring out, you know the problem. If the mobile device could connect to all the networks (including cellular) and use them in a tiered or shared fashion to stream data up/down, then this would actually be a viable solution. I think that needs to be solved before it's worth having wifi everywhere that would be useful while walking anywhere.
 
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