I have been hearing for years that Wal-Mart is going to soon be coming out with a new type of Wi-Fi from towers on their stores that would project about a 30 mile radius. This would revolutionize things for me while RV'ing and also at home as I like almost everybody else live within 30 miles of Wal-Mart. I can not find the exact letters for this service, but I have read several articles and would like to know of it's progress. I am sure that the cale companies and ISP's would fight them as it would put many of them out of business.

Hi Lindsay,

The technology is called WiMax. However, there is nothing recent on the world wide web about Walmart offering it for free.

I knew that it would not be free, but had heard it was going to be around $19.95 and would be high speed. Speed would depend on how many using it with the 30 mile radius I guess. It would be a secure network (I heard) and according to the articles, was to be operational long before now. I would love it for home use as well as on the road. I do not feel safe doing my banking and paying bills online at a campground. I think if they did it, they would capture a huge portion of the market. Maye the technology isn't there yet.

Hi Lindsay,

There was nearly nothing on the web about Walmart and wireless internet. I believe at one time they offered dial up plans but that's not very useful in an RV.

The technology is there and has been put in place in Saskatchewan on the top of many grain elevators. This is very nice for those small communities that have no access to high speed internet via either telephone or cable.

Use a firewall and run your spybot detectors before doing transactions with your bank. I use wifi "in the wild" often and have no qualms about transactions. That said, most of my banking is "auto debit" to my credit card, so the transactions I make manually are for ebay purchases and one transaction where the company will not accept credit cards.

I am really hesitant to enter my password andaccount information after the WiFi has warned me that this is not a secure network. I have tried to go as cashless as possible and hate to go a week or so without longing on to do my banking. Am I being a nervous nellie or what?

Found this...would be fun...someday

Walmart Crushes AOL and adds WiMAX, WiFi, VoIP
"Walmart Crushes AOL and adds WiMAX, WiFi, VoIP." Sounds like a great breaking news story doesn't it? Well, unfortunately right now it's merely "hypothetical".

skibare brought an idea to my attention that Walmart could buy Vonage or some other VoIP broadband service provider, sitck some WiMAX equipment on all of their roofs and start selling VoIP over WiMAX. The thought actually crossed my mind as well 2 years ago but with long-distance WiFi not WiMAX, but I'll give skibare credit for this one.

skibare wrote: "think of the DEMOGRAPHICS and Synergies of WALMART and HIGH SPEEED wifi/WiMax/VOIP -- all in one everything Walmart............think of the DEMOGRAPHICS of how many stores, how many shoppers, how many POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS hit their front door every day. its like 20 Million a DAY every day........."

Let me expound his idea a little further. Walmart certainly does own A LOT of real estate with buildings EVERYWHERE in the country. I think the Walmart rooftops could be a very HOT and precious commodity similar to the Central Office (CO) - perhaps going to the highest bidder or perhaps Walmart will keep it for themselves. I bet 90% of the U.S. population is within 25 miles of a Walmart - well within the range of WiMAX.

Walmart could not only provide VoIP over WiMAX - they could become the next Internet Service Provider (ISP) that takes down that titan known as American Online (AOL).

Forget Triple Play! Imagine the bundling deals Walmart could do! They could offer Internet connectivity, broadband TV/video, online coupons, and more. In theory, they could have their own special web browser that pops up with specials going on at the local Walmart. i.e. "If you leave in the next 30 minutes, and go to the Norwalk Walmart you can purchase a new Toro XYZ lawnmower for just $99.99!"

Heck, they can even offer the first year of WiMAX Internet connectivity for free just to build up the base and then start charging. Actually, I have a prediction to make. Soon there will be virtually no profit in just a plain dumb bandwidth pipe - it will be about the enhanced services such as voice, video/TV, wireless access, etc. ISPs and especially broadband bandwidth providers will be so competitive -- just like the VoIP players today -- that they will offer bandwidth for free and then charge you for services. So if my "FREE broadband Internet prediction" is correct, soon broadband Internet access will follow in the footsteps of the recent "VoIP price wars" which are causing VoIP prices to inch closer and closer to free. It's a fun time we are living in...


Addtl Comments:


December 21, 2004 3:43 PM


Hmmm, very interesting idea. Why not McDonalds instead of Walmart? They own more real estate and their real estate is smaller and more spread out. If 90% of the people in the US live in range with Walmart, 99.9999% live within range of a McDonalds. If not McD's, then the number two owner of real estate is Radio Shack. Now, that's an interesting idea. They even have the techies to follow simple repair routines on the towers if they go down. And, what a great name for a wireless broadband provider "Radio Shack".



RE: Walmart Crushes AOL and adds WiMAX, WiFi, VoIP
skibare :

December 26, 2004 11:37 AM


Radio Shack........MacDonalds...........Walmart

somebody IS going to ''figure this out'''and do it soon!

skibare


RE: Walmart Crushes AOL and adds WiMAX, WiFi, VoIP
Alan :

February 24, 2005 6:58 PM


WalMart acronyn

W ill
A merica
L eave
M aterialism
A nd
R eturn (to)
T ruth



RE: Walmart Crushes AOL and adds WiMAX, WiFi, VoIP
walmart :

February 25, 2005 1:09 AM


You must be A French Canadian...

I prefer this acronym for Walmart:

Will
Assinine
Liberals
Move on
And
Realize (the)
Truth

Hi Lindsay,

When the wifi is "not secure" it just means that any person can log on to that particular system. When it is "secure" one needs a password to log on--but if it is in a public place--anyone who logs on can potentially view your files. That's why you need a decent firewall--and spybot protection. I'm told that the "secure" wifi routers can be hacked quite easily (say in 3 minutes or less) by a serious computer nerd. Protect your computer---and stop worrying about the wifi signal being secure or not. I'd be a bit less nervous than you are I think.

If you wish to limit to your accounts set up a new one at a different bank--and only put enough money in to "run" for a month at a time.

I don't bother to secure my household wifi signal--it is flat rate--and my individual computers are protected, so I don't mind if someone else uses a bit of my bandwidth from time to time.

SO if i get a good firewall like the paid version of zonepro, i should be safe to do banking in a campground. I was thinking someone could get my password via the wireless part when it went from my computer to the WiFi computer.

I have been camping the last 10 days and used a nonsecure twice to do banking as well as today in a campground that has WiFi (for free even) and my bank account is what it should be (That is very low of course.) THis campground with free WiFi also has another unsecured network. Guess it is somebody with a sattalite and laptop.

When banking online, you should be connected to a secure website, indicated by the url starting with https:// instead of http:// and usually a lock or somehting on your browser will show up.

At this point everything is encrypted from your browser to the website, so as long as you see the
https:// you need not worry about anyone getting your login info or seeing your bank info.

** NOTE: Make sure you see the https:// before logging in to your financial sites, on some sites you need to click login before your on a secure login page.

Well, that makes me feel much better. I just checked my bank signin page and it has the https. I was worried about the air wave portion from my browser to the WiFi server here at the campground. We have been in the real boondocks for about a week and couldn't even get AM radio. On my truck seek, it just went around and around the dial. I guess they don't have dials anymore as it is digital, but ya'll will know what I mean. We love the debit card when we are on the road and I like to be able to check it often. I have an automatic deposit monthly and I need to be sure it get there as well as the expenses. We have a reaol problem with our RV stove and my wife says it only works for breakfast. She insist that we must eat out the other 2 meals.

Hi Lindsay,

Instead of using the "scan" feature try manually tuning from frequency to frequency. You will find that will allow very weak signals to work on your radio

I also discovered that the secure sites have the little yellow padlock icon down in the browser bar at the bottom of the screen next to were it says Internet. I have also heard that some of the fake sites place the icon down at the bottom of the screen to try to fool you. I feel safe now if I see the padlock on the browser bar. I guess in the modern world we live in nothing is safe. I heard Bill Gates credit card number was stolen and used.

Haven't heard about WalMart but I know Sprint, ATT, and Verizon are working on rolling out WiMax in many cities. Still appears to be a few years away but Sprint is the closest to completing (believe they have launched in some small trial markets). The wireless companies are probably in negotiations with WalMart to place towers on the stores. Would serve two purposes, provide broadband or better speeds and increase coverage inside the stores. While some might use WiMax for their laptops, many would be using it for downloads and such to their phones.

I know Home Depot usually has 4 or 5 WiFi's at each location named Orange (number). I am looking at 5 of them right now and using a Staples WiFi. They have it unpassworded and will be getting my business in the future for providing this service. I wish I knew the Hoe Depot password.