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O2 Ireland to enter the Wi-Fi market

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  • 22-11-2002 11:19am
    #1
    spanner_head
    Closed Accounts Posts: 449 ✭✭


    Found this on enn.ie

    I wonder how much this will be!

    http://www.enn.ie/news.html?code=8830531

    O2 Ireland is to offer public WLAN services for business customers in locations around the country from January 2003.
    Public wireless LANs (local area networks) enable users to wirelessly access the Internet at speeds 25 to 30 times faster than a normal dial-up modem as long as they are within a 100-metre radius of a terminal and have the right equipment.

    The mobile operator said on Thursday that following four months of trials it will be making a number of WLAN "hotspots" available nationwide for customers and non-O2 customers alike.

    The WLAN terminals will be placed in hotels, conference centres and train stations after O2 signed deals with Jurys Doyle Hotel Group, Bewleys Hotel Group, Lynch Hotel Group and CIE. The company declined to say exactly how many hotspots there will be. O2 added that it has separate, established business models in place with each of the site owners.

    The cost of the service will be released nearer its release date, said O2, and a range of payment options will be available. The main one of these will be a voucher system where users "scratch-off" the card to reveal access codes and details. The vouchers will be available at each of the hotspots.

    According to Tony Dempsey, O2 Ireland's WLAN programme manager, the benefit of using public WLANs is that it allows travelling businesspeople to access corporate information such as e-mails and databases at the same or higher speeds available in their own offices. O2's public WLANs will also be tied into its network, which, the company said, should provide a teleco grade service.

    O2 Ireland also said that it is open to working with partners to integrate WLAN solutions into corporate organisations. In addition, the company stated that its next WLAN development will see the introduction of WLAN roaming between other operators both in Ireland and abroad.

    O2 said it was talking to GSM and wireless LAN operators about introducing the services, but with the public WLAN market under-developed at the moment, it could only say that the roaming option is likely to be available in 2003.

    WLAN services are based on the 802.11b industry standard, otherwise known as Wi-Fi, and are becoming increasingly popular with Irish businesses. According to research carried out by DIT and Enigma, there are nearly 400 wireless hotspots in Dublin.

    However, the number of hotspots currently available to members of the public is thought to be less than ten. Along with O2, Eircom is set to change this by shortly introducing public WLANs. Eircom has been testing its version of the service for some time and recently signed agreement with five major hotels that will see it made available by April 2003.

    O2 Ireland has partnered with Ye@h Internet for the development of a national WLAN network. Ye@h Internet will develop its own WLAN network offering first refusal on sites, which it secures to O2 Ireland and will develop a roaming agreement with O2 for the sites it establishes.


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