InterNode’s recently announced wifi services for iPhone are yet another example of technology and service leadership by a brilliant ISP. But…
My experience with the service is a far cry from that of free public wifi (or the experience one has with internet connectivity from that same ISP at home). Here’s what happened.
I saw the press release on Monday morning and made a note to try the service out on my iPod Touch next time I went to the city. On Wednesday, my inbox filled with excited pointers to the press release from associates who knew I’d be interested. So, just before heading into the city on the tram I decided to look for the ‘once off setup’ instructions on the internode site (with fingers crossed that I would register the mac addresses for all of my 802.1x capable devices and everything would just work from then on). Sadly, I could find no faq or howto from the press release so I went to the support pages. Still no luck so I fired off a support e/mail asking for a link to the instructions. Then I called tech support who were very responsive and extremely helpful but unforunately set me on the downward spiral of dissapointment. Twittering as I went - it turns out that many other iPhone/InterNode fanbois out there were eager to help me.
UPDATE: Tweetscan screenshots from that time period.
The story is that after an initial connection to the Internode wifi hotspot, certain iPhone specific services (such as google maps, stock price, push e/mail for me.com subscribers) just work. The sad thing is that just as many (appstore, gmail via same e/mail client, twinkle) and many others dont. Great idea, crap experience.
Sorry guys – we gotta do better.
I will be in touch with some ideas.
Fang – Mike Seyfang
3 responses so far ↓
1
Declan Brennan
// Sep 18, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Anonymous versus free public.
When speaking yesterday about Internode’s wide-open/once off registration for iphone users you spoke of wanting the ability to roam various public access wi-fi hotspots without needing to logon.
I was readily agreeable that it should simply work. On further reflection, I am wondering if the ASIO requirement to be able to identify people is not actually a reasonable threshold. [usually through registration/verification] Sure, it is an impediment to the fluidity of your day, but come the time when you want to know who is at the other end of an electronic connection and can’t, because we have become too liberal with access control, how will we feel?
I am not stupid enough to think that I have privacy on the net, but I do think that there should be order and accountability.
Imagine if our children (yours are older) where being stalked/harassed through this nearly anonymous connectivity you have worked hard to create? Come that day, I would want our law enforcement agencies to be able to quickly and accurately determine the perpetrator. Can you be sure this is the case with Internode’s hotspots [and i-phones] now?
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should!
2
test comments
// Sep 19, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Now ‘notify me of followup comments via e-mail’ has been enabled via the Subscribe to Comments plugin.
3
mseyfang
// Sep 19, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Declan,
Thanks for taking the time to respond – I like having my thinking challenged. I guess my point is that I don’t think we should ever look to technology for solutions to legal/moral/ethical issues – especially when in means creating a barrier to entry that is impossible to manage in these days of rapid proliferation of wifi enabled devices.
If any security/intelligence agency wanted to identify people I’m guessing they easily do so using any thing from packet sniffers to cameras. I have no idea if they do or not (beyond urban myth or hearsay) my point is that I conduct my business as if they do (along the lines of your comment ‘I am not stupid enough to think that I have privacy on the net’). I reckon if we could teach/show the general public about the re-produce able trails we leave online there would be a lot less stupid/dangerous behavior that is fueled by the assumption everything online is anonymous and/or ‘fake’.
Great points though – finally we are starting a conversation that doesnt just assume the answer lies somewhere in firewall configs and port numbers.
Fang
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