Hot Spots

 
Hot Spots
At the time of this writing, the focus of the 802.'11 industry is on hot spots-that is, locations where laptopequipped
Internet surfers are likely to congregate for the short term (a coffee shop or airport) or reside for
the long term (a hotel or multiple dwelling unit [MDU]). This is largely a function of the limited range of offthe-
shelf access points (APs) (50 to 100 meters depending on conditions), access to a broadband
Internet source, and a ready power source. In order to be commercially viable, a hot spot must
incorporate all of these elements in one time and space. According to Allied Business Intelligence,
"WLAN is extending its domain beyond the home and enterprise and is rapidly growing in popularity for
public hot spot applications. The need for data connectivity on the go is being spurred by the increasing
number of notebooks and PDAs that have WLAN adapters. North American WLAN public hot spot
subscriber revenues are expected to increase to $868 million by 2006."[6]
Figure 8-2: Wi-Fi deployment in a cafe or coffee shop hot spot, Source- Pronto Networks
Cafes (Coffee Shops) Wireless hotspot technology allows a cafe-owner to generate additional sources of
revenue by offering customers wireless broadband Internet access. Offering wireless Internet access
encourages customers to stay longer and spend more, allowing the cafe to capture more revenue per
customer. One example of this is T-Mobile's relationship with coffee shop chain Starbuck's. T-Mobile is
installing hotspots in thousands of Starbuck's worldwide. Competitors to both Starbuck's and T-Mobile
are installing hotspots in coffee shops.
Airports Airports were perhaps the first and most obvious place for hot spot technology. Business
travelers needed to access their e-mail and web sites while transiting through airports. Dial-up Internet
access was and still is inconvenient because a user must either connect to a pay phone or have access
to an airline's private club (however, American Airlines' Admiral's Club now offers T-Mobile's 802.11
service) where dial-up access is available. The deployment of wireless service enables the business
traveler to access e-mail and web sites from almost any location in the airport (including aircraft).
Airports have also lost an important source of revenue with the advent of cell phones-pay phone revenue.
Business travelers no longer dash to the banks of airport telephones to make calls and check voice mail.
Rather, they use their cell phones for which the airport earns no revenue. The deployment of airport hot
spots could serve to generate the revenue lost with the declining popularity of pay phones (see Figure 8-
3).
Figure 8-3: Wi-Fi deployment in an airport, Source- Pronto Networks
Hotels Like airports, hotels have derived revenue, in one form or another, from business travelers
seeking access to e-mail and web sites. Business hotels must double as offices on the road for business
travelers. This means convenient broadband Internet access must be available in order to remain
competitive. Efforts to run CAT 5 wire through business hotels have encountered difficulties because of
the high cost and potential inconvenience of hotel guests not being able to gain access to the network on
the first try. Providing Wi-Fi for guests spares the hotel operator the expense of running CAT 5 wire
throughout the hotel structure. Users should also find gaining access to the network more convenient on
Wi-Fi than they would on wired Ethernet. Like airports, hotels have seen their revenues generated from
guest telephone calls drop off from the increased cell phone use. The deployment of a hot spot in a hotel
could offset that lost revenue (see Figure 8-4).
Figure 8-4: Wi-Fi deployment in a business hotel, Source- Pronto Networks
MDUs MDUs include apartment buildings and condominiums or other high-density dwellings. The
attractiveness of the MDU market is that subscribers are concentrated on one space and can be served
with a minimum number of APs (see Figure 8-5).
Figure 8-5: Wi-Fi deployment in an MDU, also known as apartments or condominiums, Source-
Pronto Networks