Subject: [NEXTEL-1] AT&T Wireless turns to Wi-Fi

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2003 18:21:27 -0500

AT&T Wireless turns to Wi-Fi

By Sandeep Junnarkar
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
January 28, 2003, 7:51 AM PT

AT&T Wireless, one of the country's largest cellular phone carriers, said Tuesday that
it would team with a privately-held Wi-Fi network provider to give its subscribers
wireless access to some 485 venues in the United States.

For a daily or monthly fee, AT&T subscribers will have access to Austin, Texas-based
Wayport's "Wi-Fi" network, available in more than 475 hotels and 10 airports around the
nation.
Wi-Fi is an increasingly popular standard for wireless technologies.

The wireless carrier's new service, GoPort, is aimed at business travelers who want to
retrieve
or share information with their offices while on the road.

Wi-Fi has been the one bright spot for the telecommunications industry, which has been
rattled by overcapacity and weak demand. Companies such as T-Mobile are offering
subscription-based Wi-Fi service at more than 2,000 Starbuck's cafes and, later in the
spring,
at Borders Books.

AT&T's agreement with Wayport may indicate a shift in the carrier's wireless data services

strategy, which revolved around next-generation or "3G" networks. Despite hype about 3G
services, connection speeds are comparable to those of dial-up services. Although Wi-Fi
radio
signals travel about 300 feet from their antennas, the technology offers faster connection

speeds at a drastically lower cost.

Carriers are attracted to Wi-Fi because the spectrum it occupies is unregulated by the
Federal
Communications Commission. This translates into fewer fees paid to the government and
lower
costs. Other technologies using the spectrum include cordless phones, ham radio and baby
monitors.

AT&T's customers will have to pay for Wi-Fi access regardless of whether they already
subscribe the company's wireless data services. The price for Wi-Fi services will range
from
$69.99 for unlimited monthly access to $9.99 for unlimited connections at a single
location for
a 24-hour period.

http://news.com.com/2100-1033-982404.html?tag=cd_mh

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