Have Wi-Fi, will travel
Perhaps along the way these myriad companies will work out some of Wi-Fi's kinks. Traveling from one hot spot to another, for example, isn't easy nor is it cheap. Users who bop from, say, hotel room to Starbucks to airport will likely have to log on and perhaps enter a credit-card number multiple times in the same day.
In the future, the key to truly mobile Wi-Fi access will lie in roaming agreements. Boingo Wireless has already assembled a roaming system of thousands of hot spots throughout the world and sells it to other companies, including MCI. Wayport has agreements with several companies, including AT&T Wireless, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint PCS. Other limited agreements are in place, such as the one between T-Mobile and AT&T Wireless, which allows roaming at the Denver, Philadelphia, and San Francisco airports. Once Wi-Fi roaming becomes the norm and Wi-Max starts to fill in the gaps, you may be able to log on to the Internet from just about anywhere.
Rapid Ascent
Wi-Fi revenues are expected to grow quickly in the United States.
Wi-Fi revenues
(in millions of dollars)
2004 $33
'05 $173
'06 $197
'07 $605
'08 $1,591
Source: Pyramid Research
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