Where the Wi-Fi Money Is

So, does the cheap, plentiful equipment doom the likes of Cometa Networks and earlier hot-spot aggregators, such as Wayport and Boingo Networks, from ever making a decent buck?

Not according to David Isenberg, an independent telecommunications analyst whose views can be read at Isen.com. He said in an interview last week that he believes a wide variety of wi-fi business models will develop in ways we cannot imagine today -- and that we'll ultimately become accustomed to paying different amounts based on variables such as speed and convenience.

Consider, he suggested, the different ways we've become accustomed to paying for parking a car: Sometimes you put a coin in the meter, sometimes you rent space by the month, sometimes the merchant provides a free space outside its property, sometimes the merchant validates at a remote lot because it has no space of its own, sometimes you hunt for a free spot on the curb, sometimes you're willing to pay a lot to park close to a sports event, and sometimes you park illegally and eat the ticket.

"Whether we end up having free wi-fi at home and in malls, paying a little extra for a higher speed at Starbucks, or stealing someone else's connection at other times, many different business plans make sense," he says. "There's nothing that says you need a single model for any given technology. I'm sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to see what's going to happen next; it's one of the most exciting things happening today in communications."

Investors are on the edge of their seats, too, but the fabric is getting thin. For now, it looks like your best bets are Intel and Cisco, so long as they attract you for more lucrative reasons as well.