Both free and fee hotspots will continue to be offered in hotels and roaming needs to be improved before it means anything, said STSN CEO David Garrison. Garrison spoke yesterday to Wi-Fi Networking News about expectations for 2004, both at STSN and across the industry.
STSN has built Wi-Fi networks in over 500 hotels. Some charge for access and some don't. Generally, Garrison has noticed that the type of hotel that includes breakfast in the room charge--usually hotels without restaurants--also offer Wi-Fi for no additional fee. Hotels that have restaurants and tend to charge extra for breakfast also usually charge for Wi-Fi access. Both models will continue to be prevalent, he says, because no matter how you look at it the guest is still funding the wireless network. "Even where they give it away for free, you still pay for it somewhere," he notes.
Garrison thinks that roaming will continue to be a hot issue this year but it won't have much affect on users until more work is done on the backend. "Roaming deals will continue to accelerate but as a practical matter roaming is still very kludgey," he said. Currently, users must go through several steps to use a hotspot when roaming onto the network of a partner of their operator. It will take 24 to 36 months to hammer out the backend systems that will make such roaming seamless, Garrison said. For example, billing clearinghouses are just now being set up to settle billing between operators. A smoother authentication process when roaming will also make roaming easier, he said.
But probably the most important factor for business travelers will be security and STSN is working hard to position itself as the secure network operator of choice. STSN has surveyed thousands of business travelers to find that they are most interested in security, price, and ease of use. "But price matters a lot less--or not at all--if the system isn't secure," he said. "They don't care if it's free or $100 if it's not secure."
STSN has built some proprietary solutions to beef up security and plans to follow Microsoft’s lead in deploying 802.1X.
STSN built the bulk of its 500 Wi-Fi networks in 2003 and expects to grow at a similar rate in 2004. STSN grows its networks by securing approval from large hotel chains and then selling to each hotel individually. That's because many hotels may carry a brand but are owned by a separate company. Once STSN has the approval of the brand, it can sell directly to individual hotels.