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A nice step forward for the Wifi ecosystem!

i'm still confused about what this software promises.

does it store my (i.e. already-paid-for) passwords and user ID remotely? Or, does it provide me with passwords and IDs for (selected) fee-based networks? Both?

Unfortunately all this offers is a means to avoid entering a username and a password - you register your T-Mobile/BT Openzone/Cloud/whatever username/password with Devicescape and whenever you connect to one of those networks (which are just 3 from 300 according to Devicescape) the software automatically presents the appropriate credentials. That's nice, but not a great step forward for pervasive WiFi access - it's just a minor convenience but not really a substantial value add. You still need to have accounts with the network vendors (T-Mobile/BT/The Cloud etc.) and if there is a cost for access that's between you and the network vendor nothing to do with Devicescape.

The WiFi hotspot market is so fragmented that if I want to have access to WiFi everywhere in the UK (and by this I mean most large connurbations) the reality is that I need to have monthly contracts (or pay as I go) with at least 3 different network providers (T-Mobile, BT Openzone and The Cloud). Sod that for a laugh!

Where Devicescape could clean up is by offering a service where I sign up with Devicescape and gain access to ALL public WiFi networks EVERYWHERE. Each month I pay Devicescape for the networks and bandwidth I have used (plus a small amount to Devicescape for providing the service) and Devicescape handle appoprtioned payments to the individual networks.

Until someone offers such a single service (maybe someone does already? It seems incredibly obvious though a substantial challenge due to the vested network interests) for all the disparate WiFi networks I'll stick with my 3G cellular network - 3.6Mbit/s £10/month and it works worldwide (although when I'm roaming my cellular speed may be much reduced and the cost much higher, which is where a global roaming WiFi account would really pay off!)

Well, I did say nice, not great.

thx. it sounded too good to be true....

I've just found this forum post on the Devicescape site suggesting precisely what I have outlined above - the response from Devicescape is positive (as it should be - it's a blinding idea! ) but unfortunately the response is not indicative of any future direction. Perhaps they are keeping their cards close to their chest until deals are in place...

isn't this old news? i think thoughtfix covered that before.

This is nothing new, sorry to be a party pooper...but well spotted though

Yeah it's old news, but back then I thought it was a beta and assumed that this was now an official release announcement, however the Devicescape site still has beta plastered all over it...

Anyway, I think it's mostly a solution looking for a problem - if it brought seamless roaming across all hotspot networks then Devicescape would be onto something huge. Halfway there!