[MLB-WIRELESS] Hotspots article from ACA Connections magazine

[vak at alphalink.com.au]

Taken from :

http://www.aca.gov.au/aca_home/publications/reports/connections/issue23.htm



Hotspots - how hot are they?

In Australia, most public wireless hotspots are in airport lounges, coffee
shops and lifestyle cafés in inner-city commercial districts. They allow
customers use their own laptop computers or personal digital assistants,
fitted with wireless cards, to access the Internet using the café’s
wireless system.

Broadly speaking, hotspots are premises where a wireless communications
system built to the international standard IEEE 802.11 has been installed.
Hotspot technology, also called wireless local area network (WLAN) and
‘WiFi’, is increasingly used by small businesses to network computers and
peripherals in a single premise.

Since September 2002, owners of hotspots who supply carriage services to
the public (access to the Internet is a carriage service) have been
exempted from the requirement to hold a telecommunications carrier licence.
However, this exemption is only applicable if carriage services are
provided to members of the public at the premises where the wireless device
is installed and not at other premises.

Of Australia’s 92 carrier licence holders, 42 use wireless technology (not
necessarily IEEE 802.11) to provide carriage services to the public. Since
June 2002, nine of the 14 carrier licences issued have been to companies
intending to use wireless technology (primarily IEEE 802.11) to service
niche markets.

The number of public hotspots in Australia has increased considerably in
the last 12 months. There are estimated to be 80 public hotspots currently
operating in Melbourne (more than 60 operated by Azure Wireless), fewer in
Sydney and a small number in other capital cities. Brisbane airport is
currently the only airport offering hotspot access to the general public.

Telstra has stated it will start installing public wireless Internet access
in up to 600 fast food restaurants around Australia in mid-2003. Optus has
recently announced that in the next 12 to 18 months it will provide
wireless Internet access using IEEE 802.11 in 500 Australian locations,
with services focused on its business customers.

Industry commentators have estimated the number of hotspots worldwide,
although these estimates vary. The number in Asia may be approaching
20,000, North America has more than 5,000 and the number across the United
Kingdom and Europe is thought to be in the low thousands. Public hotspots
in Asia, the UK and the US are primarily operated by regional commercial
chains such as coffee houses and food outlets. The UK and the US also have
hotspots in transport hubs such as highway service stations, railway
stations and airports.

Factors affecting growth in the Australian hotspot market are user demand
for seamless access¾being able to access the preferred Internet service
provider (ISP) at any hotspot¾and elimination of the need for multiple ISP
accounts. Hotspot access providers are tackling these issues. For example,
Azure Wireless has roaming agreements with three ISPs to service its
hotspots. Similarly, iPrimus has a strategy to enter into roaming
agreements with other hotspot access providers.

Resolution of this issue in the future may be assisted by the adoption of
an interoperable standard. This standard is aimed at achieving automatic
network switching and roaming and is currently under development by
overseas industry participants.

Concern about hotspot security is another issue that will affect growth.
Australian manufacturers and distributors of IEEE 802.11 devices have been
upgrading security beyond the current standard. However, hotspot access
providers and equipment manufacturers and distributors may need to take a
more active role in proving and marketing current or future security
measures.

The ACA is keen for users of hotspots to also take an active role in
securing their own networks. It advises users of any wireless
communications systems to consider their overall network set-up and
security procedures, and not to rely solely on in-built security measures.

The issue of wireless system reliability may also affect growth in
Australia. IEEE 802.11 devices share their ‘public park’ radiofrequency
spectrum with many other devices and may be subjected to interference.
Typically, in public park spectrum, interference increases as the number of
users or number of devices operating in that spectrum increases. Consumers
should be aware that the effective communications range and the rate of
information transfer reduce as levels of interference increase. However,
the risk of interference is reduced by the sophisticated design of current
wireless equipment.

The ACA will continue to work with industry and consumers to resolve
hotspot issues.

Answers to frequently asked questions about WLANs in the 2.4 GHz band
accessing the public telecommunications network are on the ACA website.

Information about radiofrequency planning for wireless LANs is on the ACA
website.





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