Sprint jumps into public-access Wi-Fi

Computerworld - Sprint Corp. has announced plans to climb aboard the Wi-FI bandwagon and offer public-access Wi-Fi service at over 2,100 locations by the end of the year. The move follows similar efforts by carriers such as T-Mobile USA Inc., Verizon Communications and AT&T Corp.
The majority of the "hot spot" locations it will turn on this year will be through roaming agreements with Wayport Inc. in Austin and Airpath Wireless Inc. in Toledo, Ohio, according to Jason Guesman, director of business marketing at Sprint PCS Group in Overland Park, Kan. Both Wayport and Airpath are established Wi-Fi network operators.
Guesman said Sprint would concentrate on installing its own hot spots in Tier 1 locations such as airports, convention centers and hotels and is aggressively pursuing public-access Wi-Fi deals in those locations.
Earlier this month, McDonald's Corp. tapped Wayport, which provides Wi-Fi service in 500 locations, to provide it with public-access Wi-Fi service for hot spots it has opened in its San Francisco Bay area restaurants (see story).
Airpath recently signed a deal with Aeronautical Radio Inc. in Annapolis, Md., to deliver managed Wi-Fi services to airport public-access hot spots as well as a "shared-resource" wireless network for use by airport tenants, including airlines, restaurants and stores. Aeronautical Radio is a nonprofit company owned by the U.S. airlines and provides a wide variety of radio services to airlines and airports.
Airpath, which provides back-end services to 300 Wi-Fi hot-spot operators around the globe, will also provide Sprint with Wi-Fi management service, including credit card authentication, end-user management and customer care services.
Sprint also plans to offer its wireless customers software, called PCS Connection Manager, which would allow them to easily switch between its cellular network and the Wi-Fi network. Sprint's cellular network offers data rates ranging from 70K to 80Kbit/sec. within miles of a cell tower and is based on the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 1xRTT standard.
Wi-Fi public-access hot spots are based on the 802.11b industry standard and provide raw data rates of 11Mbit/sec., but only at short ranges of less than 300 ft. Sprint PCS customers who want to be able to access both wireless services will need either a phone or data card that operates on the CDMA network, as well as a Wi-FI client card.
"This combination of cellular and Wi-Fi should be a hit with people who want remote, high-speed connectivity from anywhere," said Jeff Kagan, an Atlanta-based telecommunications analyst. "It blends the best of both worlds."
Guesman said Sprint, which currently charges $80 per monthfor unlimited cellular data service, plans to investigate a number of pricing schemes for cellular and Wi-Fi data service over the next year. He declined to provide details.
Guesman called $80 a month a good deal compared with the unlimited cellular/Wi-Fi data plan priced by T-Mobile at $29.99 a month, because Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile's cellular network operates on the General Packet Radio Standard, which has a throughput of only 20K to 30Kbit/sec.