There is no doubt that we live in an increasingly wireless world. Take a walk in a forest, go to a beach or wait in an airport lounge, and you'll listen lots of -- almost -- useless conversations.
The American University (AU) based in Washington, DC, wants to go further.
Wireless technologies promise to transform life this year at American University down to even the mundane details.
For example: A professor will be able to notify students of a class cancellation through instant alerts sent to laptops, cell phones and handheld computers instead of the old-fashioned way of posting a note on the classroom door. A student who's lost her keys will be able to send text messages through the same channels to her roommate instead of searching the student center or the library, cubicle by cubicle, for the other set of keys.
Starting this fall, AU's 10,000-student campus is rolling out its $2 million project to go completely wireless, which means students and professors will soon start conducting almost all of their business by sending beams through the air, communicating with others on campus using their cell phones and laptop computers.
OK, I guess we can call this "progress". Will it work? Remember the "paperless office"?
Anyway, I was in for a surprise -- probably because I live in Europe -- when I saw the following paragraphs near the end of this article.
AU has also been a long-distance and local phone service reseller. But the business has not made much money for the university, given that 70 percent of the students own cell phones.
Over the next few years, the university will continue to provide phone service through the conventional jack in the wall, but hopes that offering discounted cell phone service will be economical for both AU and the students.
A university selling phone services? What an amazing world!
Source: Yuki Noguchi, The Washington Post, August 7, 2002
5:46:16 PM
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