Netopia joins a handful of other companies offering a hotspot-in-a-box solution: Netopia's hotspot solution costs $300 for customers that already have a DSL modem and an additional $40 a month for support. Users, which could be a cafe or retail location, are given cards with log on numbers that they can sell or give to end users. Netopia will also sell customers Web site design and maintenance service.
Surf and Sip and AirPath are just two of a handful of other companies that offer hotspot services to venues. These services are aimed at venues that don't want to deal with supporting a network themselves. It's unclear yet if the pricing structures set up by these providers will fly in the market.