Skype's Co-Founder Plans Free Internet For Everyone

A pair of wireless internet startups have been making waves lately with a plan that might change the way you access the internet. LightSquared, an internet wholesaler who has been creating a nationwide 4G LTE network that they say will reduce customers' data bills by as much as 50%, has teamed up with FreedomPop to try and provide free wireless access to everyone in the U.S. FreedomPop is backed by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom, so they have some measure of legitimacy, but exactly how they plan to provide internet to everyone (which costs money) for no cost (which does not earn money) is unclear.

The best guess at the moment is that FreedomPop's business model will be closer to the old Juno or NetZero model, where ad revenue replaced subscription costs for an internet connection. Of course, that service ended up being cluttered, slow, and eventually had to put a cap on the amount of free internet users could get per month. If LightSquared's network does what they say it will, then it is possible that FreedomPop's expenses could be low enough that they wouldn't need an enormous amount of revenue to provide some level of internet access for all, but I'm guessing this won't be the fastest or most pleasant way to get around the web.

Also, there's reason to wonder if LightSquared will even get off the ground at all. Part of their system uses a frequency that is very close to those used by most GPS receivers, and that could cause soem problems. According to leaked info from government testing, LightSquared's towers cause GPS interference up to 75% of the time - more than enough to agencies to express concern over whether or not their network can move forward. LightSquared says that the data is incomplete, but unless something changes substantially before the final report is released, LightSquared (and thus FreedomPop) may never become operational.