Some like it hot

Wireless networking is moving beyond the office walls and into the many "hotspots" sprouting up in cafés. And people are learning how to access the Internet wirelessly to surf and work over a cappuccino. Billy Teo and Alfred Siew look at how wireless networking technologies are being deployed in Singapore.

January 30, 2002

The next time you are in a café in the city, look around you.

You will see customers with notebook computers checking e-mail, surfing the Web or even playing online games with no dial-up modem or Ethernet cables. It's all wireless!

That's because that café has a "hotspot" - this means there is a wireless local area network (LAN) set up to give customers broadband access to the Internet.

Mr Derrick Yeo, chief executive officer of wireless Internet access provider Bluengine, defined a hotspot as "an area where mobile wireless LAN users can access the Internet within the range or zone."

Other places where users are enjoying unfettered wireless network access are in most of the tertiary institutions and the Changi Airport.

Wireless gear

To access a wireless network, a mobile computing device, like a notebook or a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless LAN card that fits the notebook or PDA, and a wireless roaming access subscription with a service provider such as Bluengine is needed.

The back-end of such a wireless hotspot in public areas may include a high-speed leased line, a modem, a router, a gateway server and a wireless LAN access point.

Depending on the location, the hotspots can even use asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) or symmetrical digital subscriber line (SDSL) modem connections from broadband service providers as the external "pipe" for their wireless LAN users.

The wireless networking infrastructure in the hotspots, be it commercial or educational, all comply with the de facto IEEE 802.11b standard, using the 2.4 GHz radio frequency to transmit and receive data wirelessly.

Spot a hotspot

Mr Roger Ng gets the best of both worlds at MPH's Book Café where he can surf wirelessly and at the same time have his cuppa.

Bluengine's Mr Yeo said his company was setting up the hotspots at a rate of one to two outlets a month.

One strategy of wireless networking service providers, such as Tridor, is to target public areas where "mobile warriors" congregate and would therefore need Internet connection publicly.

MPH's Book Café on Martin Road is just one of several café hotspots which has attracted notebook-toting customers who enjoy surfing wirelessly with a hot cuppa in hand.

Mr Roger Ng, a business manager, likes the fast Internet access at the Book Café at Martin Road so much, he often brings his notebook from the office, which is a stone's throw away, to the café to do his work.

"At other times, we even hold meetings at the Book Café," he said.

Cost-effectiveness

Ms Tan Lu Hong, manager of the Book Café, said that going wireless has resulted in lower long-term infrastructure costs.

"We can change the café décor or undergo major renovation, without incurring extra costs to redo the network points or cabling," said Ms Tan.

According to Ms Chong Yoke Sim, country marketing director of Cisco Systems here, it is now very cost-effective to set up a wireless hotspot.

Cisco supplies wireless networking equipment and offers a worldwide Cisco Mobile Office service which provides wireless connectivity at hotspots in many countries.

Installing a wireless LAN may cost just a third of what it takes to put in cables and wires. Furthermore, prices of wireless equipment have dipped some 30 per cent in the past year.

A single café can be wirelessly-enabled for less than $4,000 in infrastructure cost.

Returns from that investment, though, may not be immediate. Mr Wilson Ho, a director of the Barang Barang Bistro, said he was offering the wireless LAN access as a value-added service without additional charge, and there had been minimal growth in business for the time being.

"I see it as a worthwhile investment as I have a loyal pool of regular customers who use the wireless Internet access," he said. Setting up hotspots, however, is a profitable business for Bluengine.

Mr Yeo said his company has several revenue streams from providing wireless Internet access. These include subscriptions from end-users and monthly maintenance charges from hotspot operators who require technical support.

Some spots