Karma Wants To Make Peer-to-Peer Wi-Fi a Thing

There'll be a day, if one recent Wi-Fi startup has its way, when you switch on your tablet or laptop and the wireless Internet access you need is just there. Automatically, everywhere, every time.

You won't think about it. You won't search for elusive hotspots. You'll just get to browsing, and the days when passwords or daily- or monthly-pass payments stood in the way of productivity are no more — they'll vanish, much like the brick-and-mortar video store.

That's the vision of Karma. A 10-person team, the startup is pouring some $1.2 million of investor funding into building not just an infrastructure that makes Wi-Fi ubiquitous at a low, pay-as-you-go cost, but — this is the key point — sharable.

Here's how it works.

The Business of Sharing Signal

Live since June, 2013, Karma works like this: Users buy a compact $79 hotspot device (the first units shipped last January) and they create an account. Switch on the hotspot and you get 1 GB of bandwidth to get you started. After that, it's $14 per GB — no subscriptions, pay-as-you-want-it. And the access is mobile. Walk down the street with your Karma hotspot and your access goes with you. (The device links to the Sprint Clearwire network.)

What's more, your Karma Wi-Fi signal is available to other people within range who are seeking a Wi-Fi connection. All they have to do is log on via your hotspot and sign up with the company. They would get a free 100 MB, and for more, they can pay as they go. But here's the thing: you would get 100 MB free as well.

That's an underlying idea worth noting. The more you share, the more free bandwidth you accumulate. The college study session, the corporate lunch — these just turned into what might be 500 – 1,000 MB roundups for the Karma owner in the room.

So, that's the way Karma works on the user end — but how successful has the company been since launch in December 2012? And where is it going?

We spoke with Steven van Wel, one of Karma's co-founders, about the present and future of inexpensive, plentiful — and above all, social —  Wi-Fi.

Q&A With Steven van Wel, Co-Founder of Karma

When we talk about social bandwidth and about pay-as-you-go, Karma is suggesting that something about other kinds of Internet-provider models is "broken" or unrealized. What is Karma trying to do that is different about Wi-Fi service?

We like to think about it as this crazy idea: Your data is yours and you can do with it anything you please. You buy data, you consume it whenever you need it, wherever you need it, and that's the basic premise of Karma. We get you a line, we allow you to pay for your data consumption and that's it. We never penalize you according to how you use your data. If you have [some of your data allowance] left at the end of the month, you're free to use it next month. You're free to use it in two years. It's your data, you paid for it ... and the next step for us is to build this social-bandwidth platform, allowing anyone to connect to a Karma Wi-Fi and get a line. You don't pay for their data, you just help them to get a line.

How many users has Karma brought on since launch, and what kind of bandwidth are they working with on average?

Since our launch last December we've added tens of thousands of customers to our current network. And, combined, all these users have earned about 3,000 GB of free data. If you break that down to the active user, on average every Karma hotspot owner earns just over 500 MB of free data every month, simply by turning on their Wi-Fi hotspot. We've brought our social bandwidth idea to 80 different cities [in the United States].

Where is the "front" for Karma, right now? What's the main effort underway in 2013?

We are spending a lot of time and resources on building our team ... we are making use of our initial funding that can help us build a team — one that can help us build the huge network that we want our users to use. There is revenue, people are buying data ... but our main focus is building the product, the Karma Wi-Fi.

Ten years from now, 2023: what is your vision for the way we acquire Wi-Fi connectivity? And how does Karma play into that picture?

Ten years from now the whole idea of connecting to Wi-Fi will become a frictionless and painless experience. You should open your laptop, you should turn on your tablet, you should be able to find a line wherever you are.

What's coming in the next couple of months, when it comes to Karma?

In the next few weeks, our mobile app. Our app will allow you to find Karma-enabled hotspots nearby, and it will send you a push notification whenever a Karma Wi-Fi becomes available. With a click or a swipe, it will automatically connect you ... this will be a huge step forward for us.