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Olympics Ban on Personal Hotspots
- mootothemax 14y agoFrom the London 2012 site: Personal/private wireless access points and 3G hubs (smart devices such as Android phones, iPhone and tablets are permitted inside venues, but must not be used as wireless access points to connect multiple devices) http://www.london2012.com/mm/Document/Documents/General/01/25/44/06/Prohibitedandrestricteditemslists_Neutral.pdf http://www.london2012.com/mm/Document/Documents/General/01/2... They also seem to be following airline rules and have banned liquids over 100ml, amongst the other usual suspects. I've no idea how they intend to enforce the ban against personal hotspots, nor why they'd bother in the first place. It's hardly enforceable, is it? Edit: Interesting comment by ajerman on the engadget story, does this sound plausible? I would have to assume it's less to be oppressive and more to just minimize excessive airwave congestion in the area. If a few hundred people are running a mobile hotspot, you're going to have quite a bit of traffic on the ole wifi frequencies. http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/25/london-bans-mobile-hotspots/ http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/25/london-bans-mobile-hotspo...
- gaius 14y agoPresumably it's because Samsung is their Official Mobile Phone Sponsor. The liquids thing is because Coke is their Official Carbonated Beverage Sponsor.
- mootothemax 14y agoPresumably it's because Samsung is their Official Mobile Phone Sponsor. Right - but what does that have to do with banning personal hotspots? The guidelines clearly say you can bring your phone along. The liquids thing is because Coke is their Official Carbonated Beverage Sponsor. There's nothing in there saying you can't bring 100ml of Pepsi ;-)
- sp332 14y agoBut once you're done drinking your tiny amount of Pepsi, if you get thirsty you'll have to buy Coke.
- mootothemax 14y agoBut once you're done drinking your tiny amount of Pepsi, if you get thirsty you'll have to buy Coke. Not true, here's the sample menu from London 2012 that illustrates what will typically be available at venues inside the olympic park: Bottled water – £1.60 Fairtrade tea – from £2.00 Fairtrade coffee – from £2.60 500ml bottle of Coca-Cola – £2.30 330ml bottle of Heineken – £4.20 London 2012 red wine 18.7cl – £4.80 http://www.london2012.com/mm/Document/Documents/General/01/25/68/39/SampleLondon2012menu_Neutral.pdf http://www.london2012.com/mm/Document/Documents/General/01/2... Definitely overpriced, but Coke isn't the only option.
- sp332 14y agoThis definitely reinforces the point. You're not allowed to bring your own drinks in, if you want to drink anything you must buy an overpriced drink from one of 3 or 4 sponsors.
- mootothemax 14y agoThis definitely reinforces the point. You're not allowed to bring your own drinks in, if you want to drink anything you must buy an overpriced drink from one of 3 or 4 sponsors. Well, that's a different argument from the one that coke is your only option ;) Can't say that I like these sponsorship deals enforcing things like this though. Going to a festival? Flat Carlsberg it is!
- pyre 14y ago> that coke is your only option For instance, The Coca-Cola Company owns several bottled water brands. No one said that "Coke the drink" was the only thing available.
- jerf 14y agoI'm guessing there will be for-pay wireless access hotspots installed. No inside info beyond what you see, just running on the theory that every dime is being squeezed out of the spectators and extrapolating from there.
- mootothemax 14y agoI'm guessing there will be for-pay wireless access hotspots installed. No inside info beyond what you see, just running on the theory that every dime is being squeezed out of the spectators and extrapolating from there. There's nothing banning 3G access, just the ability to use your phone as personal hotspot. Kinda pointless banning it if 3G isn't available in the first place.
- jerf 14y agoI expect paid Wifi hotspots, not 3G hotspots. In addition to them being offended you aren't paying them for Wifi, the phones will also potentially interfere with their paid Wifi.
- dalore 14y agoThe 3G coverage is bound to be horrible because there will be so many people forcing people to use their overpriced hotspots.
- cjrp 14y agoYep, BT is providing Openzone hotspots, which you can purchase access to: http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/news/bt-deploys-public-wi-fi-for-2012-olympics-300512.html http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/news/bt-deploys-public-wi-...
- DanWaterworth 14y agoThe way the Olympics is being organized is making me ashamed of my country.
- vecinu 14y agoWhy? Please elaborate.
- excuse-me 14y agoStart with laws rewriting copyright to make it a CRIMINAL offence to use: the name of the country's capital city together with either the numeric value of this year, or the name of the season between spring and autumn. Spending $Bn of taxpayers money on 'infrastructure' that is going to be used for 2weeks and then given away for next to nothing to friends/supporters afterwards. And at the same time cutting funding to schools and community sports. Using the army as cheap labour when the company given the contract for security decided it was going to be profitable enough and walked away All this so a bizarrely coiffured lunatic and his oily friends in Westminster can appear on global TV
- DanWaterworth 14y agoYou missed the truly abysmal logos and mascots.
- excuse-me 14y agoIf children wish to draw "one-eyed trouser snakes" or Lisa Simpson performing an intimate act, on their school books that's fine. I just don't think that consenting adults should be exposed to this sort of thing - especially not splashed over every wall
- b0 14y agoI've never heard the one-eyed trouser snake one before - I nearly spat my (non-Olympic-overlord approved) water in my ThinkPad :-) They are by far the worst mascots ever.
- bryanlarsen 14y agoDoes the free wifi zone cover the olympics? That would somewhat mitigate the impact of this ban, but I imagine that the free wifi is pretty limited. http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/25/3185756/o2-free-wifi-london-west-end http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/25/3185756/o2-free-wifi-londo...
- biafra 14y agoThe reasoning behind this may be less evil than you think. At the Chaos Communication Congress the CCC provides wireless internet access for free and bans personal hotspots because they interfere with the provided wifi infrastructure.
- fredley 14y agoThe wireless hotspots provided for the Olympics are not free: £5.99 for 90 minutes. http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2180518/bt-covers-olympic-park-hotspot-wi-service http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2180518/bt-covers-olympic-par...
- packetslave 14y agoThis. Yes, it's heavy-handed, but I would not be surprised to learn that the underlying goal is "keep the official wifi network from falling over from the 2.4ghz duty cycle hitting 100% across all channels due to N000 personal hotspots."
- EiZei 14y agoAlso from The Verge: "BT has 1,500 paid hotspots at Olympic sites, with prices starting from £5.99 ($9.28) for 90 minutes us"
- excuse-me 14y agoWith a title like that the lawyers will be onto you. You should use the official euphemism: "Steroid Event 0x7DC"
- jgrahamc 14y agoNo, Londinium MMXII: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/17/london-2012-londinium-mmxii-olympics http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/17/london-2...
- user49598 14y agoThe Olympics may be the single most overly commercialized event in human history. It is far and above more about brand exposure, corporate profit, and sex in the Olympic village than about athletics, sportsmanship or nations putting aside their differences. I for one will not be watching, and 2 months after when everybody forgets everything that happened other than Michael Phelps rippin' a bong, not a soul will care.
- SageRaven 14y agoThe last event I watched was in '96. Then I became aware of the IOC behaving like the RIAA/MPAA asshats by restricting the 'net (blogging, photos, domain names, etc.). I've been living in SLC since that time, and my family totally boycotted the 2002 winter games. Screw the Olympics, the IOC, the sponsors, and even the athletes who make such a juggernaut possible to begin with.
- iamadesigner 14y agoI hate people like you. People who feel the need to be so negative when others are trying to look on the bright side. The olympics may be commercialized but they also featured amazing sports like swimming, running, gymnastics, weight lifting--- these sports aren't normally featured on TV and for 2 weeks, we get treated to the best these sports have to offer. And people like you just have to ruin it with your 2 cents.
- sp332 14y agoCan't tell if you're being sarcastic. The only reason the Olympics are so trashy is because the event itself is so awesome that people will wade through piles of trash to get to it.
- dredmorbius 14y agoAs someone who's known Olympians and Olympic hopefuls (I was never quite at that level), I can appreciate the athletes. A bit. I do feel for many of the lesser-known/followed events, and competitors from developing nations. But the whole notion of amateur athletics was binned a long, long time ago. I last followed the games in the late 1980s. Since then it's been a long downward spiral so far as I'm concerned.
- hnriot 14y agoEngland has a long history of go ing two fingers to authority, so I don't see this ban being anything more than administrative. A nation of rebels will treat this, any other insane rules with the disdain they deserve. The Olympic games belong to the people, not any authority.
- nsns 14y agoOn a positive note... this event is the biggest ever evidence for the disruptive, liberating, power of the net, and the profound way new forms of news gathering and dissemination threaten the established players. Their efforts have become so elaborate, they seem like a house of cards. By the next Olympiad we'll hopefully witness a complete collapse of traditional broadcasting rights sale and enforcement.
- rdtsc 14y agoNow that they've banned them, they will probably see an unusual high usage of them. And then they'll justify buying some expensive jamming or detecting equipment because, you know, there is a ton of wifi hotspots around now.