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The service, which became available commercially on 1 August, enables users with the proper hardware to wirelessly access the Internet at speeds of up to 500kbps by being within a 100-metre radius of a BT terminal.
However, according to Esat BT, although the firm would like to introduce a similar service in Ireland, it has yet to find a business case for it. Nevertheless, the company says it will be applying to a recently announced Department of Communications scheme that will provide funding for pilot trials of wireless LAN technology.
"Getting funding would help kick-start public wireless LAN access in Ireland," said Peter Evans, director of products at Esat BT. "At the moment, we are trying to establish the business case for this technology and a trial would help us look at whether money could be made from it in this country." Tenders for funding under the scheme must be submitted by the end of August 2002, and the total amount available for trials is EUR300,000.
BT has been testing public wireless LANs (WLANs) at the Heathrow airport Hilton since late June. The company was only able to make the service more widely available following the recent lifting by the British government of restrictions that prevented companies offering commercial wireless services in the 2.4 GHz range of the radio spectrum.
The service, called BT Openzone, is aimed at business users, with pricing beginning at STG20 per month for 300 minutes access. It then increases to STG40 per month for 900 minutes or STG85 every month for unlimited access.
Two pre-pay schemes are also available. The first gives users one hour of Wi-Fi access within 24 hours of logging on to the system for STG6. The second gives unlimited access within 24 hours for STG15.
Many of the hot spots are located in London. As well as the Hilton in Heathrow, they can be found at Hiltons in Islington, Kensington and Tower Thistle, the Euston Travel Inn, Earls Court and Olympia. Some of the remaining hot spots include the Maidstone and Sandbank RoadChefs, the Moto Services at Heston, and the Jarvis Royal Berkshire Hotel at Ascott. BT has also installed hot spots in some of its offices, as well as in the facilities of Cisco and Motorola, both of whom helped build the Wi-Fi network.
BT said it plans to have around 70 hotspots in place by the end of the year, with that figure rising to 400 by mid-2003. In addition, BT is also looking to launch a consumer-oriented service that it hopes will see 4,000 of its public WLANs in cafes, roadside service areas and airports around Britain by 2005.
Similar services are already available to consumers in Japan and the US in coffee shops and fast-food restaurants. Indeed, a recent IDC report said that by 2006 there will be nearly 42,000 locations around the US offering public WLANs with the majority of them being in hotels and cafes.
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