Before I started writing this column for Technology Review, I spent eight months as the "chief scientist" for an Internet startup called Broadband2Wireless. (In fact, I was the only scientist.) Our company tried to build a high-speed wireless Internet service that could be accessed in cities throughout the United States, South America, Europe and Asia. We were going to do it using unlicensed portions of the spectrum and with wireless network equipment that employed a hot new standard called 802.11. And we were going to charge no more than $50 a month.

Of course, we failed. We had $30 million in funding; we needed $200 million. We had a handful of good engineers; we needed dozens. Nevertheless, our company's basic vision was right on target. We knew that one day there would be a pervasive wireless Internet that's as easy to use as today's telephone network. Within 10 or 15 years' time, practically every computer and every handheld device will be online all the time.

What many people don't realize, however, is that this visionary network is increasingly up and running today. And it doesn't even require any new technology, business models or significant investment. Indeed, if there is a single difference between the Broadband2Wireless mission and the reality of this new ubiquitous network, it's that the real wireless Internet doesn't cost $50 a month-it's free. All that's required, really, is openness.