Wireless subscribers get access at locations run by OTEnet S.A., a leading ISP in Greece. Boingo says locations include the Athens Airport, Macedonia International Airport, and several conference centers in the country. OTEnet’s hotspots are called OnWireless hotspots, and can be used by non-subscribers for $7.95 per day. — August 6, 2004
so that all six of the regional airports run by ICOA’s Airport Network Solutions (ANS) will be part of the Boingo footprint of sites. This means in addition to the Sacramento, Savannah and Baton Rouge airports, Boingo users can now go online at Spokane, Wash. International Airport; the Greater Baton Rouge, La. Airport; Sacramento International Airport; Manchester, N.H. Airport; Savannah/Hilton Head, Ga. International Airport; and Fresno-Yosemite, Calif. International Airport. Boingo says this gives them coverage in 75 total airports worldwide. — August 4, 2004BelAir Networks is the mesh equipment provider, and Cheetah Wireless Technologies the service provider, behind a new municipal installation of Wi-Fi in Encinitas, Calif. The service, to be promoted by the Downtown Encinitas MainStreet Association (DEMA), will cover the downtown area covering 18 square city blocks. Residents can get a one year contract and pay $29.99 a month for unlimited service; businesses pay $39.99 a month. They can use the service in any location where the signal will reach. Service will be active in September. — August 4, 2004 Panera Bread Company says it is committed to opening the largest free hotspot network in the United States. They currently have 325 locations in 27 states, and plan to go to 375 by the end of this year, with 500 total by the summer of 2005. The company runs 637 bakery-cafés under the names Panera Bread and Saint Louis Bread Co., and will open as many as 150 more locations (some with Wi-Fi service) by the end of the year. Its hotspot locations are listed online. The network is operated by ICOA. — August 3, 2004Research firm In-Stat/MDR released a new report today saying the market for hotel broadband connections, including Wi-Fi, has gone from being rocky to stable. They forecast that 25,828 motels/hotels worldwide will have high-speed Internet access (HSIA) by 2008. Wireless LAN technology is listed as the most “significant trend” driving this. Wi-Fi connections, In-Stat says, are going to be pushed toward guest rooms more this year — last year, wireless went mainstream, but only in public areas and meeting rooms. According to Amy Cravens, a senior In-Stat analyst, “Hotels see broadband now as an essential element of the guest room — along with a bed, telephone, and TV, there must be broadband access.” — August 3, 2004 The Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in New Zealand has launched a campus-wide hotzone. Installation is courtesy of WISP Reach Wireless, using equipment from RoamAD. The network is open to anyone on campus, not just the faculty/staff/students, though that group gets a discounted rate of $16.95 NZ per month at speeds of 24Mbps. The companies say they designed and deployed the entire network in less than one week. — August 3, 2004 RoomLinX, which provides HSIA to hotels, has been picked as the service provider of choice by The Sagamore in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State. The first phase of deployment will cover 110 rooms in the resort’s Historic Hotel and The Hermitage. This fall’s second phase will complete coverage of 350 guest rooms, including in the Lodges. — August 3, 2004 MeshNetworks has added another city to its growing roster of wireless municipalities. Cocoa Beach, Florida, situated between the Kennedy Space Center and Patrick Air Force Base, will be using the company’s architecture to support the city police in a six square mile area. Police cruisers now have access to the Florida and National Criminal Information Centers (FCIC and NCIC), DMV, and other public safety systems while on the road. — August 3, 2004
