its deployed wireless in more hotels than anyone, and is working on installation
number 820. They have locations in the US, UK, Mexico, and South Africa. The
release neglects to mention what hotels they’re in, but the Web site has a list
that includes Holiday Inns, Marriott Fairfields, Courtyards, and many more. —
April 23, 2004
Burnside in Portland, Oregon has a beverage shop, World Cup Coffee — that site has
been unwired by the local freenet group, Personal Telco. As with all Personal
Telco locations, Internet access via Wi-Fi is free. World Cup Coffee’s location
on NW Glisan also has a hotspot, and WiFiFreeSpot.com also lists a hotspot in
the Powell’s on Hawthorne, home of the The Fresh Pot coffee shop. — April 23,
2004
broadband wireless network infrastructure that will be for public access and
first responders. The city is looking for $1 million in federal funds to pay for
the installation. A Wi-Fi switch from vendor Vivato run by OneEighty networks is
already being installed in the downtown area. — April 23, 2004
Denver will be getting Wi-Fi high-speed Internet access (HSIA). The deployments
will be done by SuiteSpeed of
Louisville, Colo., which specializes in hotelier networks. Sage runs about 80
properties total including others like Hilton and Sheraton — this move will
make the Marriott Fairfield Inns under its thumb 100% wireless. — April 22,
2004
of its Hotzone Kit. You can now get a ruggedized Sputnik AP 200 unit for
outdoors, a Sputnik 160 AP for indoors, and the Sputnik Control Center
management software for a data center for $495 (an “introductory price”). Just
the hardware purchased separately costs $435. — April 21, 2004
Studio Suites Hotels will be getting Wi-Fi in 132 US locations, courtesy of
MegaPath Networks of Pleasanton, Calif.
Service will be available in all rooms by June of this year, with over 100
already in place. No word on price for end users.– April 21, 2004
–Wireless Athens Group Zone) installed by the University of Georgia’s New Media Institute (NMI) and the Athens-Clark
County Government. Now it has become the first hotzone to use location-based
services. With software from PanGo
Networks, the WAGZone is delivering geographically-based content (video,
audio, text) to visitors using HP iPAQ Pocket PCs. HP is part of the consortium
helping run the NMI’s Mobile Media Consortium. The consortium will be holding a
“Go Mobile or Go Home” event all day on April 24 with panel discussions about
the potential for wireless media. — April 21, 2004
Ballroom in New Jersey (a 2,200-seat concert venue, not a gambling den) will
soon have wireless hotspot connectivity installed by Fusion ConneX of N.H. for all performers
and patrons. The announcement implies that the service is free to end users, and
that they even can get VPN pass-through access. — April 21, 2004
area looking for first responder Wi-Fi: the Big Easy. New Orleans, Louisiana
will use Tropos equipment to carry video for the city’s surveillance camera
project. Local company’s head up the installation: Verge Wireless Networks will be the
system integrator working with Southern Electronics on deploying the cameras
(from Active Video Solutions) and the network using Tropos 5110 Wi-Fi ruggedized
outdoor cells. The whole system should allow cops to watch video feeds while in
the field. Verge and Tropos also did an install in the state capital of Baton
Rouge late last year. — April 20, 2004
Research have a report coming out called The New Wireless Road Warrior: From
Wi-Fi to 3G: Emerging Services, Players and Best Practices. They’re touting it
now with a headline on their Web site saying “T-Mobile is Getting the Last Laugh
with Wi-Fi.” Pyramid says that be embracing hotspots before they were cool,
T-Mobile did the right thing — especially now that they have a financial bundle
for both Wi-Fi and cellular. The firm believes that carriers that don’t go Wi-Fi
“do so at their own risk.” By 2005, the US will have the largest total public
Wi-Fi deployment, shooting past the current leader, Korea. — April 20, 2004
Wi-Fi service that will be used by passing passengers and tenants of the
airport. The service will be installed by ICOA’s (Quote, Chart)
Airport Network Solutions. Launch should take place in the next few months.
Fresno Yosemite handled 1.1 million passengers last year and expects more in
2004. — April 20, 2004
and AT&T Wireless (Quote, Chart)
have announced a reciprocal roaming agreement for their burgeoning hotspot
locations. This announcement specifically covers only five International
airports, two run by Sprint PCS Wi-FI (Kansas City and the recently announced
deployment at Salt Lake City) and three from AT&T Wireless (Denver,
Philadelphia, and Raleigh-Durham). This deal doesn’t appear to include all their
locations (AT&T has some other airports) nor does it cross over with
Sprint’s other roaming deals with companies like Truckstop.net. Prices either
service is just under $50 per month and they offer per day rates as well. —
April 19, 2004
own wireless access for guests, using a number of Netgear (Quote, Chart)
ProSafe access points matched up with high-gain antennas for indoor and outdoor
coverage — equipment that only cost the hotel about $4000. The 335-room
high-rise hotel is near the airport and the Wi-Fi access for guess will be
property wide, and free of charge. — April 19, 2004
got four and a half years to plan for it, make a note: Capinfo Company, which
will be providing the telecommunications infrastructure for the Olympics, is
licensing the mesh networking technology of MeshNetworks. Capinfo’s Digital Beijing
initiative will include the MeshNetworks Enabled Architecture built into as many
as 5000 interactive kiosks throughout the city so they can get real-time info on
the games. It’s not clear from the announcement whether the kiosks will provide
any kind of wireless access for devices you might bring while there to watch the
games. — April 19, 2004
