"Public Wi-Fi networks slow to take off at airports"

Tuesday,March 1, 2005

Public Wi-Fi networks slow to take off at airports
By Barbara De Lollis
USA TODAY


Air travelers generally are finding it easier to check e-mail wirelessly,
but big airports are adding Wi-Fi hot spots at a slower pace than are other
public places. 

Mark Bolger, marketing chief for T-Mobile HotSpot, says providing wireless
Internet access at airports can be more complicated than at, say, a
coffeehouse or hotel. (Related chart: Hot spots at U.S. airports) 

"Airports are very large entities," he says. "They're governmental bodies.
There are just a lot of steps involved with making decisions of this
nature." The company provides service for nine U.S. airports and for 110 VIP
lounges operated by American, United, Delta and US Airways.
 
Five years into the rollout of wireless Internet connections in public
places, most airline lounges are offering them. The service is slowly
becoming more common at gates and in concourses. Users usually need an
account with the provider or must pay a fee.

About half of the USA's 30 busiest airports provide Wi-Fi in public areas,
according to a USA TODAY survey. All offer it in airline clubs.

David Blumenfeld, vice president at JiWire.com, an online hot-spot
directory, says the number of hot spots in public places tripled last year.
It's expected to double again this year. Wi-Fi hot spots let multiple users
share high-speed Internet connections within a few hundred feet of a special
radio device. 

The smaller the airport, the fewer radio devices required for full coverage.
That's partly why many smaller and midsize airports offer Wi-Fi. Nearly 20
small to midsize airports offer it free. Even tiny airports can offer
powerful hot spots for about $500, says Colby Goff, vice president at Boingo
Wireless. His company provides service in 14 of the top 30 U.S. airports.

About five years ago, airports were at the forefront of Wi-Fi rollout, along
with coffeehouses - notably, Starbucks. Business travelers were the perfect
test audience: They carry laptops, they need to stay in touch, and they have
an expense account to pay for wireless access. "They've come to expect the
convenience of using Wi-Fi everywhere they go," Bolger says.

Wi-Fi use at airports continues to soar. The number of Wi-Fi connections at
Dallas/Fort Worth, for instance, runs about 18,000 a month, compared with a
scant 50 a month when it was new in 2000, says Pat Gleason, DFW's vice
president of airport concessions. T-Mobile has seen more than a 150%
increase in its airport traffic year over year, Bolger says.

The average time spent on T-Mobile airport connections is 40 minutes, up
from about 30 minutes last year.

Besides checking e-mail at airports, software executive Patrick Ryan of
Richardson, Texas, wirelessly transmits pictures of his trip to his kids.
He'll send them a picture of a statue, for instance, and they can research
it to guess his city of the week.

Sales executive Suzanne Hoffman of Chicago says she lives by Wi-Fi at
airports, because she arrives early to avoid any security-related snafus.
She has prepaid accounts from T-Mobile and Wayport to make it more likely
that she can connect regardless of airport.

She has sent reports, handled school issues for her daughter, paid bills and
found hotel rooms on short notice using Wi-Fi.

"I won't consider being without it," she says.

Just one of the top five U.S. airports provides wireless Internet access
outside of membership-only airline clubs: No. 4 Dallas/Fort Worth. The other
four - Atlanta, Chicago O'Hare, Los Angeles and Phoenix - are in varying
stages of rolling out Wi-Fi in public areas. 

No. 1 Atlanta (based on scheduled departing seats) will start phasing it in
by summer in its public atrium area. No. 3 Los Angeles hopes to offer it by
year's end.

Passengers, however, may find that Internet service providers have struck
separate deals with airport concessionaires to provide limited Wi-Fi
service. Even though LAX, for instance, hasn't hired an airportwide
provider, Boingo provides some Wi-Fi in the terminals and around specific
restaurants, such as a California Pizza Kitchen. 

Fliers should look either for banners in airports or use the Wi-Fi
providers' locator software.


 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php


*****************************************