Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Cellphone <-> WiFi options ...

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 15:06:19 -0500

------- Original Message --------
From: "Jon Baer" <[email-masked]>
Subject: [nycwireless] Cellphone <-> WiFi options ...

>From Wi-Fi Networking News:

http://company.monster.lu/excilanlu/

-snip-
Exclusive story! Excilan offers cell-phone based way to pay for hot spot
service : Sean O'Mahoney, CEO of Vancouver, B.C.-based wISP Fatport alerted
me to some exciting news from Excilan, a company that's building software
bridges for seamless roaming among different kinds of wireless networks,
including cell and Wi-Fi. Excilan is launching a system that cell operators
and wISPs can sign up for that allows a user at a hot spot location to pull
up a gateway page, enter their cell phone number, and receive an automated
call. The call prompts the user by telling them the session fee details for
their location. The user agrees by pressing a key (such as "1" in the test I
ran through using a Schiphol, Amsterdam, test page), which then charges the
fee to their cellular bill and authenticates the computer at the hot spot
location.

O'Mahoney said that in the initial meeting with Excilan, only European cell
carriers were represented, and Fatport was the only North American wISP
present. (Fatport is a founding member of Pass-One, which Excilan is
apparently part of as well.) But several European hot spot firms were there:
Megabeam (Pan-European), Attingo (Netherlands), TLC Mobile (France);
O'Mahoney said two others are also involved: Netario (UK) and WLAN AG
(Germany). With the proof-of-concept rolling out as an actual service,
however, it's expected that other networks and carriers will look at this as
an option.

O'Mahony pointed out that this authentication system works both directions:
it removes friction for hot spot operators in having users connect to their
service; no credit card number is required, and the cell phone call implies
another layer of security and accountability. But the other direction is
that cell operators can tie into a network of how ever many wISPs sign up
for the service. A cell company can essentially offer a branded (even
discounted) hot spot service in this way without building any infrastructure
or even modified their systems outside the Excilan billing hookup. The wISPs
will offer a wholesale rate which the individual cell companies can choose
to mark up however they wish. (wISPs would almost certainly offer a direct
rate, as well.)

It's not convergence, but it's an interesting step on that road, by
providing cell operators with a real chance to judge how frequently their
users would engage in this option.

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