Payphones turned into Internet hubs Wireless laptop users can surf free
Source: Toronto Star
The wireless "hotspot" market is beginning to heat up.
Bell Canada announced yesterday a three-month pilot project that gives anyone with a wireless-enabled laptop Internet access at a number of locations in Ontario and Quebec, including Toronto's Union Station and Air Canada Maple Leaf lounges at Pearson Airport.
Starving students and Net-savvy business professionals take notice: The service, dubbed AccessZone, will be available for free, 24 hours a day for the duration of the trial. Between 20 and 30 people can use the Internet simultaneously through each access point with no time restrictions, the company said.
"We're very excited about this launch and how it will evolve over the next few months," said Kerry Eberwein, general manager of wireless local network solutions at Bell Canada.
"We know the strong demand for these services will continue to grow."
AccessZone is based on 802.11b technology — dubbed "Wi-Fi" — which will be built into about 30 per cent of all laptops sold this year. By 2004, 90 per cent of new laptops are expected to have the technology.
A person with a Wi-Fi-enabled laptop or handheld computer need only be within a 200-metre radius — though closer is better — of an AccessZone terminal to connect instantly to Bell's high-speed Internet network. Once connected, users can gain access to e-mail, corporate networks and the Web.
As part of the trial, Bell has converted payphones at various high-traffic locations, such as Union Station, into AccessZone terminals. Each terminal creates a wireless local-area network, or hotspot, that uses a DSL modem and a standard payphone line to connect to Bell's network.
Bell, in partnership with Cisco Systems Inc. and Intel Corp., is the first telephone provider in the world to offer such a service through its payphone network.
"I applaud them for launching this," said Lawrence Surtees, a telecom analyst with IDC Canada Ltd.
Surtees said the payphone network is a natural place for Bell to begin offering the service, largely because the company can leverage existing assets and customer relationships.
But one big question remains, he said: "How do you make money from it?"
