SBC adds Wi-Fi billing service

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Aug 7, 2003 by Janice Francis-Smith

SBC Communications has officially entered the race to offer high- speed, wireless Internet access to customers on the go.

On Wednesday, SBC announced that it has entered into an agreement with Wayport Inc., an Austin-based company. Wayport provides wireless and wired high-speed Internet access. SBC officials demonstrated the new service at downtown Oklahoma City's Westin Hotel, one of three hotels in the state that currently offers "Wi-Fi," or wireless fidelity, access.

Customers should be able to use the service by sometime this fall, said Ashley Perkins, area manager of external affairs for SBC. At first, users will be able to use a credit card to pay for access on a daily basis. By January, SBC customers should be able to have the charges added to their monthly phone bill, said Perkins.

Wi-Fi is an increasingly popular technology that uses a radio signal to provide a wireless Internet connection for customers using a laptop or handheld computer. Access points are called "hot spots," and are appearing in more and more airports, hotels, and other venues - even at Starbucks' coffee shops.

Depending on the quality of the signal and the floor plan of the area (walls can block the signal), the Wi-Fi signal typically reaches users located up to 300 feet away from a hot spot. The connection is much faster than a dial-up connection would provide, comparable to a T1 or DSL line.

For most users, the connection speed will be between 2 and 5 megabits per second, though some hot spots are able to transmit information at a top speed of 11 Mbps. The newest technology being developed promises to offer a speed of up to 54 Mbps.

Industry analysts estimate that 5,000 hot spots are currently operating all across the United States, with another 1,000 located around the world. However, analysts are predicting that there will be more than 24,000 hot spots operating worldwide by the end of this year.

SBC plans to deploy more than 20,000 hot spots in 6,000 venues over the next three years.

SBC calls its Wi-Fi service "FreedomLink." SBC's agreement with Wayport allows SBC customers access to Wayport's wireless network, which includes access points at more than 650 locations nationwide, including 565 hotels, 13 airports and 75 San Francisco-San Jose-area McDonald's.

SBC will continue to seek agreements with other Wi-Fi service providers, expanding SBC customers' service area.

Though SBC officials did not announce the price for the service, Perkins said it will likely be lower than the competition's price, noting that the company already has an extensive communications infrastructure to which additional features and equipment may be added on. SBC companies are the nation's leading DSL provider, with 2.8 million subscribers.

"Our price will be quite low," said Perkins. "We'll see how other (companies) respond. I see more partnerships forming in the future."

On Tuesday - the day before SBC's announcement - Verizon Wireless announced that it had entered into a similar agreement with Wayport. Verizon, which currently has the largest nationwide wireless voice and data network, serving 34.6 million customers, announced that it would charge $7 per day and $35 per month for Wi-Fi access.

AT&T, which also has an agreement with Wayport, charges about $10 for a 24-hour period. T-Mobile, which currently runs about half of the hot spots now in operation (at Starbucks, Borders bookstores and Kinko's printing shops), offers Wi- Fi access for about $30 a month.

Sprint has announced that it plans to start offering high-speed Internet access by the end of the summer. Already, Sprint PCS Vision offers third-generation, or 3G, wireless Internet access using its cell phone network.

While slower than a Wi-Fi connection, 3G service is available in a much larger area - wherever cell phone service is available. Third- generation service is still more expensive than Wi-Fi. Sprint offers the service for about $100 a month.

SBC has an agreement with Cingular Wireless to offer 3G wireless service. Eventually, SBC plans to offer service that integrates 3G wireless service with the hot spots. Such an integration would allow customers to access the Internet while in transit to just about any spot on the map, without losing the signal and at a fast connection speed wherever possible. The integrated service is expected to become available by late 2004 or early 2005.