Companies Ink Cooperative Deals to Grow Wireless
Net Services.
Your phone works almost everywhere there's
cellular service, and you get one monthly bill, right? Why, ask
roving Wi-Fi users, can't we get the same deal?
Answer: Slowly but surely you may, as the Wi-Fi
(wireless Ethernet) providers sign cooperative deals and
cellular carriers offer access to more hot spots and
cellular/Wi-Fi data handoffs.
Wificom Technologies has reached an agreement
allowing its Wificom SAB Server wireless Internet service
provider (WISP) customers to sign on to the Boingo roaming
system and exchange billing information. Boingo already
integrates 70 hot spot operators worldwide.
And T-Mobile announced it will offer integrated
3G cellular and Wi-Fi service, dynamically switching to
whichever service is available, faster, or cheaper.
Dan Lowden, a vice president at Wi-Fi provider
Wayport, envisions two to four major players controlling access
at hotels, airports, and restaurants, and they'll cut deals with
cellular, DSL, and cable companies. Lowden says a business
traveler might pay up to $10 daily (or $20 to $30 monthly in
company-wide deals) for good service.
"Ten dollars a day is a no-brainer for a traveler
like me who has to sync Outlook over a VPN," agrees Phil
Belanger of mobile networker BelAir Networks, "but the pricing
is too high for mass adoption."
Belanger believes the major cellular carriers
hold the key to expanded Wi-Fi access, since they have the
billing infrastructure and can provide future
cellular-plus-Wi-Fi combinations.
Until deals are struck, the waiting game is on.
