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Why isn't email verification enough for these services? I don't think they really need to worry about automated services signing up for accounts, so I wonder wh

• jrockway 7y ago
  Availability tends to be a closely-guarded secret; they don't want a competitor typing in every address in the city and then getting an easy list of customers. ISPs are way too paranoid about this, though. Simple rate limiting is more than enough. If someone builds a botnet to check what buildings you're available in, maps the addresses to the person in charge of IT at every company in the building, signs the necessary access agreements, digs up the streets to install fiber, then calls your happy customers and asks them to switch, ... good luck to them. Meanwhile, an easy-to-use map or availability checker for potential customers probably has a high probability of getting you a sale.
  • DonHopkins 7y ago
    Back in the early 90's, Metricom used a feature of Xerox PARC's Map Viewer to overlay the locations of their pole top boxes on an interactive map, so you could see the coverage of their Ricochet spread spectrum radio network. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricochet_(Internet_service) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricochet_(Internet_service) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_PARC_Map_Viewer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_PARC_Map_Viewer