making money with "portable hotspots"?!?!?!

[VetTechJess]

World's First 3G/4G Mobile and Portable Hot Spot Solution for Enterprise and Transportation Industry

I was reading about portable hotspots when I came across that article mentioned above. It talks about the mobilebridge 3g/4g portable hotspot. I have pasted the article below (no pic sorry, you have to click the link above for a pic) and have bolded the part of the article that interests me. I have then posted my replies and concerns below the article pasting in bold and purple.

Anyways, here's the article:

World's First 3G / 4G Mobile and Portable Hot Spot Solution for Enterprise and Transportation Industry

3rd October, 2006

US : Top Global and Airpath Wireless announced the combination of the MobileBridge ( above ) with the Airpath Wireless Broadband Operational Support System (WiBOSS) platform, allowing Wi-Fi carriers and businesses to quickly deploy mobile/portable hot spots.

MobileBridge combines the best of Wi-Fi and 3G/4G mobile communications technologies including EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSUPA, EVDO, EVDO Rev.A, and Mobile WiMax. It leverages the existing and widely available 3G/4G infrastructures with the flexible, low cost and simple to use WLAN technology for enterprise applications and for rapid deployment of hot spots anywhere around the world. The solution comes with a complete suite of software package including security, network management, and AAA (Authentication, Authorization, Accounting) features.

Using MobileBridge™, customers can easily deploy their own Wi-Fi hot spot with ubiquitous broadband cellular backbone. The need for cables, routers, T1, and DSL is eliminated, making this a cost effective and convenient solution for both enterprises and Wi-Fi operators who want to rapidly expand their service coverage. Also, MobileBridge™ offers top security features, which can give users first class protection, and keeps both private and public networks secure from eavesdropping and intrusion. As an enterprise gateway, the MobileBridge™ with the Airpath WiBOSS platform provides a powerful, yet easy to manage Internet hot spot, programmed to enable the redirection of user traffic for AAA using the Airpath hosted software platform WiBOSS. The total solution provides the functionality that enables service providers to manage their network, customer provisioning, and billing, while also allowing their customers to roam to other networks in the Airpath Provider Alliance (APA) network, and allowing other APA providers' customers to roam onto their network using the same usernames and passwords. WiBOSS gives service providers the ability to offer customized service plans for different venues, i.e., subscription plans and pre-paid service. WiBOSS also enables the hotspot provider to advertise and/or post messages per venue via the log-in screen.

"Combine the MobileBridge™ Hot Spot solution with Airpath WiBOSS, you can now enable thousands of Hot Spots overnight, in any location within cellular coverage", said Dr.Alan Zhen Zhou, President and CTO of Top Global, "It's a perfect solution for traditional hot spots in restaurants, coffee shops, gas stations, as well as Mobile Hot Spots on buses, trains, and limousines".

It says that you can make money off this. I was wondering how you can legally do so without violating some TOS of your ISP (or in this case your cellular data network provider such as AT&T, sprint, or verizon...) somewhere in the contract. I know they arent trying to attract ISP's to have personal hotspots because they have mobile 3g networks for that. Besides they can setup their hotspots the traditional way. What if you wanted to provide hotspot internet access at a trade show, dog show, conference, convention, or some other part? How would you be able to accomplish that?!?!

Anyone have some advice on this matter?!?! [/color]

[1000feet]

Unless your ISP or cellular provider specifically says you can't sell access to your connection, there shouldn't be a problem using the bandwidth you get any way you want. Note that this type of restriction is probably more common with regular home internet connections because they know the average person wants a fast connection but only uses a small fraction of the capacity available to them; if people used all their bandwidth the service would have to be much more expensive.

I can tell you're really focused on this idea, which can be good, but providing internet services is something that typically takes years of experience and a lot of studying. It doesn't really qualify as a good promotional tool for something else. Unless you're really commited to making computer networking a major part of your income and your life you should consider other options, if only to give you a better perspective on why this is a good idea.

[Brutha]

It says that you can make money off this. I was wondering how you can legally do so without violating some TOS of your ISP (or in this case your cellular data network provider such as AT&T, sprint, or verizon...) somewhere in the contract.

Different company's make different contracts, so there isn't a global answer to that question.

In general there will be a solution but the price could be high. Mobile bandwith isn't as cheap as regular DSL bandwith.