Wifi for the masses by the ISP's

WIFI is hot. Everyone wants a wireless network. The goal is to be connected everywhere and anytime. It is possible to do that with UMTS, but you will have to pay for it, and it won't be very fast. Wifi is much nicer, but its range is severly limited; you'll have to depend on the kindness of others to provide you with open WIFI networks. Allthough everyone likes to use an open network, few people are willing to run one. Various companies try to solve this problem by creating free-for-members wifi networks, that you can only join on the condition that you share your network as well. ISP's don't like it, and don't allow it. Allthough I have not yet heard of anybody losing his internet connection because he shared it, sooner or later this will become an issue.

It doesn't have to be a problem. The cable/ADSL providers could turn this into an advantage. They should add a wifi router to every cable/adsl modem they rent out. This router should come with software that allows other customers to join the network. The router makes sure the traffic of the guest is separated from that of the host. It would even be possible to temporary raise the speed on the internet connection, so guest usage won't slow down the hosts connection. As an alternative an ISP could even pay/discount it's customers for sharing their connection.
As all the users are customers of the same provider their should be no problem with sharing the network with strangers. If a guest downloads kiddyporn it will be linked to his account, not to the host.
ISP's won't have any issue with this kind of sharing, as everyone is a customer anyway. It would even be possible to create WIFI only accounts, that solely depend on others to provide them with access points.
It doesn't have to stop there. ISP's could agree to share their networks, just like they have peering contracts for the wired internet. The only thing that is required is a strong authentication system, and there are plenty of those around to chose from.