Buying Hotspotzz in a Box

Hotspotzz is launching a new program
to bring more venue owners looking to provide Wi-Fi access to customers into
the Hotspotzz network.

The company is selling a kit, called "Hotspotzz in a Box," for $500.
Location owners will find inside the access point too hook up to their broadband
connection, a setup guide, and a number of items for promoting use of the hotspot
to customers including a window sticker, table tents, and brochures. They also
throw in $500 in scratch cards for access that the venues can either give out
promotionally or resell.

Henry Smith, president of Hotspotzz, says locations can "either have broadband
already [such as cable or DSL] or they can contact a rep at IKANO and we’ll
walk them through getting it."

Hotspotzz is the wireless hotspot arm of Salt Lake City, UT-based IKANO.
Hotspotzz was purchased from hereUare Communications in the summer of 2002,
when it was known as WiFi Metro. IKANO has since expanded well behind the original
locations on the west coast and merged it with other hotspots it was providing.

The hardware in the Hotspotzz kit is from Colubris. Smith says once it’s deployed,
the company monitors things at the access point level from their network operation
centers (NOCs) in Salt Lake City, Toronto, and Toledo, OH. They also provide
24 hour/7 day a week free end user tech support. Venue owners who don’t want
to be network help desks can let their customers make a call to Hotspotzz toll-free.
(They do not supply the Wi-Fi card for laptops and PDAs, however, that’s still
up to the end user.)

Scratch cards for the service can be purchased by end users in 1, 2 or 12 hour
increments. There’s also a pay-as-you-go option or a monthly subscription. Prices
range from $2.95 for one hour to $19.95 for a month of unlimited wireless access.
End user subscribers who get the service on a monthly basis also get unlimited
dial-up access.

You may want to wait before sinking your $500 into the kit, however: Smith
say the kit’s "price will move quickly down to $299."

Hotspotzz currently runs over 100 public access wireless locations. They recently
helped provide some of the free wireless access used by the movie industry attendees
at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival;, IKANO was instrumental in networking at
the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Hotspotzz is not alone in offering a starter kit for venue owners. Other companies
with kits include Boingo Wireless,
Airpath Wireless,and
FatPort.