Posts Tagged ‘FON’

The Strange Tale of Wi-Fi Startup Whisher

Om Malik | Wednesday, June 24, 2009 | 10:45 AM PT | 11 comments

Back in 2006, when Wi-Fi was all the rage, we saw many startups paint a future in which we’d be able to hop from one hot spot to another seamlessly, sharing the bandwidth for free when we could and buying it when we had to. Well, the future turned out to be entirely different.

Whisher, a Wi-Fi company that launched with much fanfare at DEMO in January 2007, sold itself to WiFi.com, a hot-spot services company, sometime earlier this year, according to founder and Chief Technology Officer Mike Puchol. The sale came close on the heels of the firing of CEO Ferran Moreno in October 2008. Now while for most companies, such a sale would signal the end of the story, with Whisher it was the start of a new one. As part of its preparation to merge operations with WiFi.com, Whisher launched an internal audit that turned up certain irregularities, which in turn led to a full-blown investigative audit. What it discovered wasn’t good. Continue »

Sprint, Cogent Reconnect Networks For Now

Om Malik | Sunday, November 2, 2008 | 5:14 PM PT | 6 comments

Sprint and Cogent networks are back talking to each other — at least temporarily. After the two companies severed networks on October 30, there has been wide spread criticism of the severing of the networks. Continue »

Whisher Adds a Symbian App

Jason Harris | Monday, April 28, 2008 | 11:25 AM PT | 1 comment

screenshotUpdated: Whisher has sent this special offer to our readers. They are giving away WiFi Out credit to GigaOM readers, and you can get the details here. The deal allows you to get free WiFi at Starbucks, Hilton Hotels, International airports and other locations.

Whisher, which provides access to Wi-Fi hotspots around the world in exchange for access on users’ own home or business networks, has unveiled a client that allows access to its hotspots on Nokia Symbian (N81, N82 or E61) phones. The move is a smart extension of Whisher’s service offering; Nokia has been including Wi-Fi chipsets in many of its smartphones and has built a strong market share.

Continue »

Sprint Writes Down Nextel, Posts $29.5 Billion Loss

Om Malik | Thursday, February 28, 2008 | 7:26 AM PT | 10 comments

Sprint LogoIf you thought eBay taking a hefty writedown for its mistake — I mean Skype was shocking — then Sprint’s Nextel deal writedown is going to leave you awed. Sprint Nextel reported a $29.5 billion loss, scratched its dividend and lost 683,000 customers. The company wrote down $29.7 billion of the $36 billion it paid for Nextel in 2005. Continue »

Cellular Biz & Its $99 Problem

Om Malik | Friday, February 22, 2008 | 9:10 AM PT | 34 comments

I’ve been watching the mobile industry commit hara-kari over the past few days. US Cellular is the latest to join this mad dash to the bottom. Their new $99 unlimited calling plans make me wonder if they have actually thought through this move and its long-term implications. Continue »

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