SMB Strategy Cast #17 - Municipal Wifi and the Small Business

May 17, 2006Podcast Description – Cover business strategy topics that pertain to startup, small and medium business.In this episode - I will talk about the hot topic of municipal WiFi and how it affects small and medium business, as well as introduce the new format for this Poscast. I doubt you have been able to escape the articles on free and low cost wifi in Philadelphia and San Francisco over the last few months. Big names such as Google, Earth Link, and Cisco have been involved in the bidding process.. How will Municiapl WiFI affect your small or medium business? - The bottom line is that it will save you money and increase productivity. Some example how: o You are staying in a Hotel in San Francisco – instead of paying the $9.99 a night in the hotel for access you log into the free wifi to check your email.o You have remote sales people in Philadelphia that take orders on their laptops – now they can transmit instantaneously using the free wifi instead of waiting until latter when they have an Internet connection, are in the office or paying for wireless broadband.o You employ people that work from home and need broadband which you pay for…This sounds great, but back to those Ads that the members of the press feel we should be worried about - I am not sure what to say, how about “there is no such thing as a free lunch” and we all realize this. Some one has to pay for the service and through advertising is much better that out of the small business’ pocket right?But the bottom line is that we the small business owners do get it. We want the free wifi and are willing to look at a couple ads in lieu of paying $6 for an hour at Starbucks, $12 for a night at a hotel or $80 for a month of wireless broadband.Link to article in eWeek by Andrew Garcia, "San Fran's Wi-Fi Plan Includes Ads".Music for today’s show was provided by to the podsafe music network at music.podshow.com. The artist is Bob Hughes (www.bobhughesmusic.com). Go to Bob's page on the podsafe music network. Email questions or comments to [email protected] help with your business plan, startup or strategy project, check outwww.eaglestrategygroup.com and www.bizplanhelp.comDownload this Episode