Cometa makes first big push: 250 locations in Seattle area with AT&T Wireless as operator partner: Cometa's plans start to see the light of day as an integrated set of offerings among several venues with an operator brand on top. On Intel's "one unwired day" on Sept. 25, Cometa will have 100 locations live in the Seattle area, with 250 by the end of the year.
The venues include McDonald’s Corporation (50 sites), Barnes & Noble Booksellers (12 sites), Tully’s Coffee (40 sites), World Wrapps restaurants (9 sites), Equity Office (including over eight office properties in downtown Seattle and Bellevue, such as the prestigious Bank of America Tower, Seattle’s tallest building), Seattle Central Community College, Overlake Golf and Country Club, and Broadmoor Golf Club.
The company will also deploy wider hot spot zones at University Village and Bellevue Square, the two largest premium malls in the greater Seattle area, both coincidentally home to the first two Apple Stores in the Northwest (the U Village store opens later this year). Apple offers free Wi-Fi in all of their stores, incidentally.
This is the first time we've heard specifics about the Barnes & Noble plan, or any mention of World Wrapps.
What's unclear in the press release is that AT&T Wireless is the "premier service provider," but Sprint (not Sprint PCS?), AT&T (which operates the McDonald's with Cometa in NYC and Newark airport), and iPass "will also provide Wi-Fi service to Seattle area customers." Is this just a reseller relationship?
Later today, I'll be interviewing Cometa's CEO and will report on that here. I live in Seattle, not far from the U Village mall, so I should be able to follow the unwiring quite closely.
Please ask if they intend to support Mobile IP roaming. This is a requirement if we are to have full time connectivity.