Close
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Menu
Search
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications

    Wireless Hot Spots Mushrooming

    By
    Carmen Nobel
    -
    July 15, 2003
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Wireless LAN services are becoming the domain of wireline carriers.

      While the carriers expect it to be a while before Wi-Fi is a major source of revenue, both AT&T Corp. and MCI this month made headway on their public Internet access—or “hot spot”—strategies.

      At the end of the month, MCI will start offering hot spot services to its existing corporate long-distance customers, according to officials in Ashburn, Va.

      Through a roaming deal with Wayport Inc., MCI customers will be able to use wireless LANs to reach their corporate VPNs from more than 600 U.S. locations, including hotels, airports and a handful of McDonalds restaurants in California.

      Rather than having to pay immediately at the venue, MCI customers will receive the Wi-Fi charges on their monthly statements. MCI also will add the hot spot locations to its phone book software, so customers will know where they are.

      However, the company has no immediate plans to offer flat-rate monthly Wi-Fi service or to integrate Wi-Fi into any of its existing long-distance service plans. Customers will receive a surcharge for Wi-Fi usage, on top of whatever theyre paying for dial-up. Officials said that, for now, there isnt enough demand to offer multiple plans.

      “Right now its mostly incidental use,” said Kevin Gatesman, manager of emerging technologies at MCI in Ashburn. “Primarily folks are using dial-up because thats whats ubiquitous at this point.” MCI has no immediate plans to build its own new hot spots, he said.

      AT&T, meanwhile, plans to offer wireless access to its VPN services from more than 2,000 locations by the end of the year, said officials at the Bedminster, N.J., carrier.

      The service will run via a deal with GRIC Communications Inc., the company that already manages AT&Ts remote dial-up Internet services.

      The service should be available in 20 countries to U.S.-based customers in the fourth quarter of 2003, with availability for international customers in the first quarter of next year.

      Verizon Communications Inc., meanwhile, is in the process of turning existing phone booths in New York into wireless LAN hot spots for its existing DSL carriers.

      Industry experts in the hot spot business expect the support to continue.

      “Wireline carriers see Wi-Fi as all good,” said David Hagan, president of Boingo Wireless, a hot spot network aggregator in Santa Monica, Calif.

      Avatar
      Carmen Nobel

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      eWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      Zeus Kerravala - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      Wayne Rash - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more
      eWeek


      Contact Us | About | Sitemap

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      Terms of Service | Privacy Notice | Advertise | California - Do Not Sell My Information

      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×