WSJ -- Airport Lounges, Unplugged: New Wireless Options Debut.
[Yes, it is (the "great") Wi-Fi.
For people who want to spend more money (above and beyond their cell phone cost); and who want to worry about people near them intercepting all data to and from their computer.]
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October 30, 2002
GADGETS
Airport Lounges, Unplugged: New Wireless Options Debut
By JESSE DRUCKER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Cutting loose on the road is taking on new meaning.
T-Mobile USA Inc., formerly VoiceStream Wireless, is
partnering with American Airlines, United Airlines and
Delta Air Lines to let people get high-speed wireless
Internet connections in nearly all of the airlines'
domestic clubs over the coming year.
Other carriers, too, are expanding their wireless
networks, using a technology known as Wi-Fi that can
be 40 times faster than even the most current
high-speed cellular networks. AT&T Wireless Services
Inc. has rigged up virtually the entire Denver airport.
Sprint Corp., meanwhile, is planning to roll out the
service in several Wyndham Hotels around the country.
For most people, this represents a big change in the
way they get onto the Internet on the road. Typically,
that involves finding a pay phone, tethering the laptop to
the phone with a phone cord, and then enduring
snail-like connection speeds. (Some cellular carriers
now offer laptop cards that provide wireless Internet
connections, but at comparatively slow speeds.)
With a
Wi-Fi
network,
users can
pick a
comfortable
seat
anywhere
in the
room, fire
up their
laptop, and
get their
e-mail or
browse
the Web at
high
speeds --
without
any cords getting in the way.
The move is also a big step forward for Wi-Fi.
T-Mobile's service is already in about 1,800 Starbucks
outlets and 25 lounges of AMR Corp.'s American
Airlines. But the company's latest plans provide new
options to a critical audience: the business traveler.
While analysts are skeptical that many people at an
urban coffee shop will pay for Wi-Fi, airport lounges,
hotels and convention centers are popular destinations
for people who will. Every year, Delta's Crown Room
Clubs, for example, gets seven million passenger visits.
That could provide T-Mobile, the sixth-largest carrier in
the U.S., with a new revenue stream at a time when the
industry is ailing. It could also give the company an
edge over competitors who haven't yet rolled out Wi-Fi,
and are still relying on high-speed wireless networks
that can actually be painfully slow.
Wi-Fi works by sending an Internet connection to a
laptop via radio frequency, rather than through a phone
or cable line. In order to use the service, a laptop or
hand-held has to be loaded with Wi-Fi software, and
needs a special card that acts as the antenna to pick up
the radio signal. Increasing numbers of laptops come
equipped with both. There are various makers of Wi-Fi
gear, and any version will work at T-Mobile's airport
lounges.
The new services being rolled out by T-Mobile and
others aren't cheap. T-Mobile, for example, offers
everything from pay-as-you-go plans ($2.99 for 15
minutes of access and 25 cents a minute after that) to
monthly subscriptions (which start at $29.99). Customers can sign up ahead of time or just before they're set
to use the service.
While Wi-Fi's range is generally limited to a few hundred feet -- compared with anywhere from a few city
blocks to several miles for a cellular tower -- it is as fast as the high-speed Internet connections that increasing
numbers of people have in their homes.
Over the past few years, lots of people have set up these networks at home. With a couple of small
components, costing a total of about $200, people can access the Internet from their couches or backyards,
and share files among several computers in a household. Sales of home Wi-Fi equipment around the world
increased fivefold last year to 2.6 million pieces, according to In-Stat/MDR. That number is expected to double
again this year, as prices plunge.
In addition to the airport expansion, T-Mobile will add the service to another 200 Starbucks and 400 Borders
book stores over the next eight months. But it isn't the only player in that game. A company called Wayport
Inc. now offers wireless in nine airports (soon to be 10), as well as hundreds of hotels around the U.S.,
including the Four Seasons and the Marriott. Another firm, Boingo Wireless, has pooled together Wi-Fi
networks in hundreds of airports, the lobbies of hotels like the Sheraton, and mom-and-pop cafes across the
country.
Security Questions
David Cohen, a public-relations consultant from Morgan Hill, Calif., subscribes to both Wayport and
T-Mobile's Wi-Fi services. He frequently uses them to download e-mail before boarding his plane, which he
then reads in-flight. "I'm inundated with so much e-mail that if I'm not able to stay up on it, I'm doing two
days work the next day," says Mr. Cohen, who has traveled as much as 400,000 miles a year.
One potential drawback to T-Mobile's service is security. A hacker intent on getting into your files could do so
if he were within a few hundred feet. A company spokeswoman says the carrier can't provide safeguards, and
that customers must rely on their own security procedures.
"We can't really provide these solutions for customers," says T-Mobile spokeswoman Kim Thompson. Wi-FI
software generally comes with encryption settings that can be tricky to set up but provide decent protection.
Plodding Speeds
The carrier, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG, wouldn't disclose how much it will cost to deploy Wi-Fi in the
roughly 100 airport lounges, but said the three airlines weren't sharing the expense. It also wouldn't say
whether the airlines -- American, Delta and UAL Corp.'s United -- were getting a cut of the revenues.
Others carriers like AT&T Wireless, Verizon Wireless and Sprint are deploying their own higher-speed cellular
networks for Web browsing, e-mail and other services. Customers access them via cellphones and cards that
slide into laptops and PDAs. But customers frequently complain about the plodding speeds on those networks,
which are often about as fast as dial-up connections.
Write to Jesse Drucker at jesse.drucker@wsj.com
Updated October 30, 2002
Copyright © 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
