Turnkey Operators

Turnkey Operators
A promising approach to spreading the coverage of 802.11 is the turnkey of 802.11 services via firms that
provide local operators with back-office services to overcome the chief barrier to entry for this marketcustomer
service and network administration. Similar to the early spread of dial-up Internet access
services, local operator entrepreneurs can get into this market space for only a few thousand dollars. In
the current context of these plans, the local operator offers service in hot spots and shares revenue with
the service provider for every per-visit or monthly subscriber. The hot spot operator must, in most but not
all cases, purchase the AP hardware and associated access software. The challenge for the local
operator is to operate in enough hot spots to be economically viable.[7] Table 8-5 lists turnkey operators,
their products and business propositions for local operators. This presents an opportunity for the
entrepreneur to enter this market without the expense of maintaining a large engineering staff.
Table 8-5: 802.11 turnkey operators, and their product and business models for local operators
Network
Operator Description How to Make Money
Boingo This is a hot spot service. Boingo
requires the purchase of a $695
Colubris AP configured for
authentication, as well as high-speed
service and a static IP address. Boingo
also offers WISP in a Box, which
enables a hot spot to have its own
network customers while also offering
Boingo service.
Boingo pays a $20 bounty for
each new member, and $1 per
connection session at a hot
spot location. For WISP in a
Box, the revenue sharing is the
same, but Boingo requires that
its partners in this service
charge no less than $12 per
month, $6 per day, and $3 per
hour.
AirPath AirPath has several plans, including
the AirPath Instant Hot Spot. AirPath
also allows Boingo Wireless customers
to roam on their network.
They offer a variety of
equipment, starting at $695,
and also have approved
equipment that can be
deployed. The advantage of
their system is that the local
operator keeps all the revenue
from the local subscriber (from
a single point or a network of
hot spots) and receives partner
revenue from other AirPath
members using the point.
NetNearU This firm offers several kinds of
preconfigured hot spot services, but
has little detail on their online site.
Boingo Wireless subscribers can use
NetNearU locations.
A NetNearU reseller wrote in to
note that he resells the turnkey
system either for $495 and
gives venues 15 percent of the
revenue in exchange for
providing technical support and
marketing, or for $695 with a 40
percent revenue cut for the
location, but they're responsible
for marketing and tech support
themselves.
FatPort FatPoint Complete: A hands-off
managed solution for $199 a month,
including Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
service, technical support, and what
they label FatPoint Express.
Up to 40 percent revenue share.
Joltage Joltage Networks intends to use its
proprietary software to foster what it
calls micro-ISPs or hot spots. The
software handles all the back-end
details of running a WISP, including
security, billing, and administration.
Joltage is following a revenuesharing
plan where it will split
the $24.99 monthly access fee
with the hot spot providers. In
homage to Avon, Joltage will
pay providers to bring others
into the service. Joltage says
micro- WISPs using its patentpending
software can opt to
provide Internet access free of
charge.
Source: 802. 11b Networking News[a]
[a]"Turnkey Hotspots," a report from 802.11b Networking News, http://80211b.weblogger.com/
turnkey_hotspots.html.