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By John Borland
CNET
Early last spring, NYCWireless co-founder Anthony Townsend got a note in the mail saying that someone on his network had been violating copyright laws.
This type of note is becoming increasingly common as record companies and Hollywood studios subpoena Internet service providers (ISPs) for information about subscribers in order to stop people from trading songs and movies online. But Townsend's case was unusual: As the representative of a loose collection of wireless "hot spot" Internet access points, there was no way he or the relevant access point operator in New York's Bryant Park could identify or warn the file trader.
"We brought the notice to the attention of the park management, but they weren't concerned," Townsend said. "That whole mechanism (for finding copyright violators) becomes really problematic when the ISP is someone sharing a wireless access point."
Townsend and others' similar experiences, no matter how limited today, point to a slowly widening hole in the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) recently announced drive to identify and ultimately sue what could be thousands of file swappers online.
Wireless Net access through free, open or publicly available hot spots is proving to be a last bastion of privacy on an Internet where the veil of anonymity can now easily pierced. Wi-Fi access points give anyone who possesses the appropriate computer equipment within a radius of about 300 feet the ability to reach the Internet.
Traditional ISPs give each subscriber a unique, if temporary, identification number while they're online. Wi-Fi access points don't, and that makes it difficult for the RIAA or anyone else to pinpoint exactly who is doing what using these nodes on the Net.
Wi-Fi access, meanwhile, is one of the fastest-growing segments of the technology marketplace today. About 28,000 publicly accessible hot spots exist around the world today, according to research firm Allied Business Intelligence. That figure is expected to grow to 160,000 by 2007, the firm predicted in a report last week.
Not all of those hot spots provide the same kind of anonymous access as the free services provided by Armstrong's network in New York. Most commercial Wi-Fi points are run as pay services by companies such as T-Mobile USA or Boingo, typically requiring computer users to pay for their time, usually with a credit card, and log in to their account while online. This allows customers to be identified just as easily as they would on an ordinary ISP using telephone or cable lines.
Increasingly, cafes, parks and even private homes are offering access to Net where no registration is required. With people logging in and out without offering identities, it becomes virtually impossible for groups such as the RIAA to track down the identity of copyright infringers using these nodes.
Changing Wi-Fi patterns
It is hard to argue that this type of network access makes up more than a tiny fraction of file swapping. People using public Wi-Fi access points typically use them for just a few minutes or hours, rather than staying online for the long periods of time necessary to download movie files, for instance.
This could change as the patterns of Wi-Fi use change, becoming more residential, however. Just last week, ISP Speakeasy opened a program that allows home broadband subscribers to sell wireless Net access to their neighbors, becoming in effect a mini-ISP with Speakeasy's help.
This kind of program illustrates further the potential holes in the RIAA dragnet. A Speakeasy customer who has several customers of her own could wind up unwittingly being the conduit for file-sharing activity.
In that case, Speakeasy would receive a subpoena, and be required under recent court decisions to give up her name. Moreover, under the provisions of the company's new program, her role as "administrator" for other people's accounts would make her responsible for any illegal activity by the people using her wireless Net access.
"If our terms of service are violated on (that broadband) line, we hold the administrator responsible," said Speakeasy CEO Mike Apgar. "We think the best person to understand their local area is the administrator."
However, unless the administrator keeps detailed logs of everybody's account use--which is not required by law--she may well not know who was swapping files at the time the RIAA identified a problem, and the subpoena may hit a dead end.
Recording industry officers declined to discuss their legal strategy in detail, but said that the Wi-Fi issue was not necessarily a dead end for investigations.
"We are not limiting ourselves in that respect," said RIAA Senior Vice President Matt Oppenheim.
What the group and other copyright holders can do if Wi-Fi access points turn out to be a substantial nexus for piracy isn't wholly clear. Unlike the file-swapping market, which in Napster's wake has been populated mostly by small companies that exist on the margin of the law, Wi-Fi is the technological darling of giants that range from Intel to Verizon Communications.
In theory, copyright holders could press policymakers for some regulatory framework that would require individual computer users to be identified wherever they were logged on to a network. That way, even people logging on to a free access point like the one in New York City's Bryant Park could be traced if found to be doing something illegal.
However, previous technological measures that involved the strict ability to identify users or users' computers, such as the unique serial numbers once built into Intel chips, have proven extremely controversial.
Privacy and civil-liberties activists, by contrast, are encouraging the spread of Wi-Fi access points, whether officially under a plan like Speakeasy's, or simply by setting up a wireless access point on their own.
"I think there is good reason for people to become ISPs and offer this service in order to give people real anonymity again," said Fred von Lohmann, an Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney who has represented file-swapping companies against the recording industry.
Von Lohmann, a copyright lawyer, contends that individuals and businesses that operate open Wi-Fi hot spots should be eligible for the same legal shields that ensure that ISPs aren't liable for the online actions of their customers.
Hot spot operators like Townsend say they are likely to attract the RIAA's subpoenas and lawsuits, which are due in mid-August. But they say, for now, they're not worried.
"It is obvious that people are using wireless hot spots to do the same kind of thing other people online are doing," said Townsend, whose NYCWireless group is made up of 160 hot spots around the city, mostly run by volunteers. "But there's no evidence that this kind of thing is any more prevalent. We haven't been asked to make (identifying people) any easier."
Why does your $29.99 plan cost twice as much? Here's what Catherine Zeta-Jones didn't mention.
By Sarah Max, CNN/Money Staff Writer
New York (CNN/Money) - In most respects, cellular phones have changed our lives for the better.
Still, it's no secret that many cell users are not happy with their service, and dropped calls and spotty coverage are the least of their concerns. In fact, most of the complaints filed with the Federal Communications Commission for wireless service are related to billing and rates, according to FCC spokeswoman Rosemary Kimball.
Studying the hard-to-read fine print before you lock into a one-year contract is necessary if you want to avoid paying $59.99 for a $29.99 plan. Knowing just how hard it is to decipher anything with your eyes crossed, we'd like to reveal what celebrity hucksters Jamie Lee Curtis and Catherine Zeta-Jones won't.
Here are a thousand minutes you won't use
If you choose your plan wisely, and use all of your minutes at all the right times, you could pay less than a penny a minute to make long-distance calls from your cell phone.
"Carriers are having to give out a ridiculous number of minutes just to get anyone to pay attention," said one telecom analyst. "I just saw a package with 5,200 minutes for $29.99."
Problem is, most of these minutes are limited to a narrow window of off-peak times. That 5,200 minute deal, for example, comprises 200 anytime and 5,000 night and weekend minutes.
It's a bargain if you make (and receive) most of your calls before 6:00 a.m. and after 9:00 p.m., the typical off-peak window. But to use all 5,000 of those minutes you'd need to spend almost three hours a day on the phone, and stay up well past your bedtime most nights.
"Carriers advertise this huge off-peak buckets but aren't being up front that they're good for about 30 minutes of useful calls each day," said Chris Murray, legislative council for Consumers Union.
If you do use up all of your "anytime" minutes and call during peak times, you'll pay what's known as an "overage" rate of about 30 to 45 cents a minute. "It doesn't take a lot of these calls to add $10 or $15 to your bill," McGugan said.
To avoid paying more cost of your monthly plan, be realistic about when, where and how much you'll use your cell phone. Remember you're not just paying for the calls you make but also the ones you receive.
"It's better to overbuy to start out with, and if you find you're consistently not using all of your minutes you can always back down," McGugan said.
What you save on rates you pay back in fees
Charging 30 to 45 cents a minute for calls that exceed the monthly bucket is one way carriers take back what they give away in cheap long-distance. As airlines, banks and credit card companies have discovered, fees are another way to lower prices and still turn a profit.
Some fees are optional, whether it's a few dollars a month to add voicemail to a bare-bones package, $5 a month to insure your handset, or $5 to $15 to tag on e-mail or messaging capabilities.
Increasingly, however, carriers are adding so-called "regulatory fees" to customers' bills, and these are not optional.
Cingular Wireless charges $1.25 a month for a "regulatory cost recovery fee." AT&T charges $1.20 a month for a "911 surcharge." Sprint charges $1.75 for 911 enhancement and portability. Nextel, meanwhile, charges a "federal programs cost recovery fee of $1.55 good for one or more the following: E911, number pooling and wireless number portability."
Carriers argue that such fees are necessary to recover the cost of new services they soon will be required to provide. One such service is "E911" to allow 911 operators to pinpoint the origin of a call.
Number portability, which will let customers keep their number when they switch carriers, is another service that doesn't exist -- and the carriers are fighting its mandatory implementation. Nevertheless, customers are paying for it. (The FCC says it will require such portability beginning in late November.)
While the government is indeed mandating certain services, it does not regulate how much carriers can charge to "recover" related costs.
"Every time carriers add on these charges there is a danger they're padding it," consumer activist Murray said.
We dare you to leave us
The fact that you can't take your phone number with you is a major reason many customers remain loyal but dissatisfied.
And if the hassle of changing your cell number isn't enough to keep you, the early termination fee may be. The average charge ranges from $150 to $200 and up, according to McGugan. "This is because carriers are laying out so much money up front to acquire a customer," he said. "If you cancel before the contract is up the carrier actually loses money."
The free or subsidized handsets that carriers use to lure customers represent much of that cost. But, say consumer advocates, handsets are a lot cheaper than they used to be, with the most popular handsets costing carriers quite a bit less than their cancellation fees.
That brings us to yet another barrier for changing services: a new phone. There are legitimate reasons for why the phone needs to match the carrier. Still, Murray and others are convinced that business interests -- not technology -- are the real reason most handsets aren't compatible with most services.
"I really think it's an additional switching cost they like to have in place," he said.
Intel and Alvarion Will Work Together to Develop WiMAX-Certified* Products
SANTA CLARA, Calif., - Intel Corporation today announced its intention to develop silicon product based on the IEEE 802.16a* standard that will provide a broadband wireless access alternative to existing "last mile" methods such as cable and digital subscriber lines (DSL). Intel is working with Alvarion, a leader in last mile broadband wireless access equipment, to deliver low-cost WiMAX-Certified equipment based on Intel?? 802.16a silicon.
The IEEE 802.16a standard is a wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN) technology that connects wireless hotspots, which offer users wireless Internet access via the IEEE 802.11 or Wi-Fi standard, and other locations such as businesses and homes to the wired Internet backbone. It is expected that networks based on the 802.16a standard will have a range up to 30 miles and the ability to transfer data, voice and video at speeds of up to 70 Megabits-per-second (Mbps).
"Intel is committed to enabling computing and communications anytime, anywhere over any device, and we see WiMAX as a critical technology for making that vision a reality," said Sean Maloney, executive vice president and general manager, Intel Communications Group. "Our silicon products for WiMAX equipment will complement existing Intel wireless building blocks including Intel?? Centrino??? mobile technology for wireless notebooks, Intel?? PRO/Wireless network connections, and Intel?? IXP4XX network processors for wireless infrastructure equipment."
Products based on 802.16a can provide wireless broadband connectivity to businesses with guaranteed levels of service required for enterprise applications, and to homes for residential broadband applications. These products will also enable service providers to offer voice and data services.
The IEEE 802.16a standard was approved in January of this year. Since then, over 25 leading communications equipment companies have joined the non-profit WiMAX Forum to help promote and certify the compatibility and interoperability of 802.16a equipment.
"We believe that WiMAX will be the catalyst for growth of the broadband wireless access market, similar to the impact Wi-Fi had on the Wireless LAN market," said Zvi Slonimsky, CEO of Alvarion. "Without the 802.16a standard, equipment makers have to make everything themselves; including the fundamental silicon, the customer premise equipment, the base station and the network management software. With the standard, equipment makers can innovate in the areas where they excel most, resulting in dramatic industry price/performance gains."
By May Wong
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tuesday, July 8, 2003
The counter help will be saying "You want Wi-Fi with that?" now that residents of the technology-focused Bay Area will be able to get a Big Mac and wireless Internet access at the same time.
McDonald's Corp., which already has been offering wireless Web access at 10 restaurants in New York City, is expanding the pilot program to dozens more restaurants spanning the San Francisco Bay region.
The fast-food chain launched wireless access in about 55 area restaurants Tuesday. About 20 more will soon follow.
Additional restaurants in New York and Chicago also are slated to become so-called wireless "hotspots" as part of a McDonald's goal to offer wireless service at several hundred restaurants by year's end.
Don Thompson, McDonald's West Division president, said the company wanted to "meet the needs of busy professional and family lifestyles."
Cost for a two-hour wireless connection at Bay Area restaurants will be $4.95, the company said. During an introductory promotion through Aug. 12, patrons will get the wireless access free with the purchase of a Big Mac combo meal.
The McDonald's program coincides with the growing trend of wireless computing. The short-range wireless access technology known as Wi-Fi is increasingly available in coffee houses, hotels and airports, and is being built into laptops and handheld computers.
"Right now, the (computing) industry is targeting the business traveler, but to get the market to really grow, you have to pull in the mainstream consumer, and McDonald's plays really well into that," said Tim Shelton, an analyst at Allied Business Intelligence market research firm.
The firm projects that the number of Wi-Fi hotspots in the nation will more than quadruple to 66,300 in 2007 from 12,400 in 2003.
By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Wireless Internet technology may help poor nations leapfrog into the future if they can get assistance to harness the new technology, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) said on Thursday.
Wireless Internet access has "a key role to play everywhere, but especially in developing countries and countries with economies in transition," Annan said in a message to a U.N. conference on the rapidly growing phenomenon known as Wi-Fi.
Laptops are rare in the developing world and the money to buy the needed electronic gear is scarce.
Some 200 people -- representing technology companies, developing nations, regulators and international agencies -- attended Thursday's conference, organized by the Boston-based Wireless Internet Institute to help bridge the digital divide between the information society and the developing world.
Wi-Fi allows users of laptop computers and related gadgets to access the Internet without electric cords or phone jacks.
A race is on to install access points known as "hotspots" around the world, each capable of linking properly equipped portable computers in the vicinity to the Internet.
Pat Gelsinger, chief technology officer for Intel Corp., the world's biggest computer chip maker, said Wi-Fi was cost-effective, growing rapidly around the world and particularly appropriate for developing nations because it was neither government-regulated nor licensed and was built using industry-wide and worldwide standards.
In March, Intel introduced technology that it hopes by next year will make most new laptops sold in the world wireless Internet devices.
'WORLDWIDE LUST FOR TECHNOLOGY'
Gelsinger said Intel was already marketing Wi-Fi in "tens of countries" in the developing world and would be expanding.
In developing nations including China and India, "we are looking at something on the order of 40 million to 50 million PCs (personal computers) and this is the fastest-growing sector of the market," Gelsinger told Reuters. "This reflects a worldwide lust for technology. We see millions of people with the potential to become Wi-Fi users."
"It is precisely in places where no infrastructure exists that Wi-Fi can be particularly effective, helping countries to leapfrog generations of telecommunications technology and infrastructure and empower their people," Annan said.
Annan, who was in Geneva on Thursday and could not deliver his remarks in person, called on governments, regulators, the computer industry and activists to work together to identify obstacles to Wi-Fi development and prepare a plan for overcoming them.
Mohsen Khalil, the World Bank (news - web sites) director of information and communications technology, agreed it would take work to get Wi-Fi off the ground in poor areas.
Regulators might yet be tempted to impose charges or other restrictions on the technology, and the equipment costs are not insignificant, he said. And while the technology has shown great promise in tests, "the business model has yet to be tested in developing countries."
Jeff Pulver, CEO, pulver.com announced a campaign promoting deployment of free Wi-Fi hot spots toward making the rapidly expanding Free World Dialup (FWD) community mobile.
"The 20,000 people joining of the Free World Dialup community in the last six months can use voice enabled laptops and PDA's to access Free World Dialup when not at home," noted Jeff Pulver. "The Free World Dialup Wi-Fi Hot Spot Campaign seeks to increase the number of public locations with free access to the Internet. Charging for Wi-Fi access represents the largest barrier to deployment and usage as it creates unnecessary cost, complexity, and ease of use obstacles. The potential for customer traffic easily justifies deploying free Wi-Fi Internet access. Wi-Fi access to the Internet costs so little it can get incorporated with other overhead type expenses like electricity and background music." The FWD Wi-Fi Hot Spot Campaign will provide a free online directory listing for all free Wi-Fi enabled venues. FWD members can nominate locations they want to see become free Wi-Fi hot spots via hotspots@pulver.com. Discussion list FWD-M will host community discussion of issues relating to mobile Free World Dialup.
The FWD Team will work with vendors to reduce cost and complexity barriers to hot spot deployment, make laptops and handhelds more VoIP friendly, and encourage member usage through application development and promotions.
"Awareness and education represent the biggest obstacle to ubiquitous Wi-Fi hotspots," said Daniel Berninger, Managing Director, pulver.com and lead organizer of the campaign. "Our campaign seeks to expand the reach community based free network projects beyond cities to reach the FWD members spread out in 100 countries around the world. The FWD community can work together in support of free public Internet access not unlike the projects already active in Portland, Seattle, London, and New York.
Jeff Pulver launched Free World Dialup on November 11, 2002. FWD adds over 2000 new members per week and growth continues to accelerate. Free World Dialup members can make no cost calls between each other. Anyone with a broadband connection and an Internet Protocol (IP) telephone can take advantage of the service. FWD assigns a unique number for the user's equipment and provides the mechanism for calls between members. Free World Dialup does not use traditional telephone numbers or connect directly to the Public Switched Telephone Network.
SAN FRANCISCO ??? In an attempt to make the wireless Internet easier to find, technology companies are linking Wi-Fi and cell phone technologies.
Wi-Fi sends Web pages through the air as radio waves. It's quickly winning over laptop users because it allows fast access to the Internet without being hooked into a phone line.
But it only works if you're within about 1,000 feet of a Wi-Fi antenna. Connecting to the Internet via cell phone ??? or laptop with a cellular antenna ??? is slow. But cell phone coverage is much broader than Wi-Fi coverage.
A device with both technologies could take advantage of both. A laptop, for example, could use Wi-Fi when in Wi-Fi range and cell technology when out of Wi-Fi range.
The cellular service would still be slow, but at least there would be a connection.
Truly integrated devices are at least a year away. But companies are working on products that tackle the technological hurdles:
Cisco Systems, one of Wi-Fi's biggest corporate backers, is expected to announce Monday its first portable Wi-Fi phone. For now, most people access Wi-Fi networks via laptops equipped with special cards. The portable Wi-Fi phone will have the ability to connect to Wi-Fi networks anywhere, just as a PC does.
Research firm Gartner expects there to be more than 24,000 public Wi-Fi networks ??? including hundreds at Starbucks stores ??? worldwide by year's end.
While the Cisco phone won't use cell phone technology, it's a step toward a Wi-Fi/cell phone combination, says Aberdeen Group analyst Isaac Ro. Cisco says it is collaborating with cell phone companies on future ideas. SpectraLink, an office telephone maker, already markets a Wi-Fi phone to hospitals, where cell phone signals can interfere with medical equipment.
No. 1 cell phone maker Nokia is designing a laptop adaptor that includes both Wi-Fi and cell phone technology for the USA. It already sells the cards overseas. They're expensive ??? around $400 ??? so they're slow sellers, Nokia says. But they're a hit with people who really need connectivity, spokesman Keith Nowak says.
Symbol Technologies last year released a Wi-Fi/cell phone communications system marketed toward truck drivers. Drivers transmit data via cell phone when on the road, such as how many deliveries they've made. When they pull into a Wi-Fi-equipped dock, they can upload and download more detailed data.
One obstacle to Wi-Fi/cell phone combinations is who gets paid, Ro says. Wi-Fi networks are run by a hodgepodge of companies, agencies and individuals. cell phone networks are usually run by telephone companies. To allow switching from one network to another, companies will have to work out billing and service kinks.
The latest wireless networking specification is on track for standards approval, which should open the door for further adoption of the already popular technology.
A working group within the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), an organization responsible for setting standards for the networking industry, finished work on the most recent version of the 802.11g wireless networking specification last week. That version, 8.2, will likely be the final form of the 802.11g specification, which is expected to be approved as a standard at an upcoming IEEE meeting on June 12.
The standardization could increase the momentum of 802.11g. While some companies have already taken the plunge, basing products on the specification, the more conservative yet influential players such as Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft have been waiting for the specification to become a standard.
Companies have cited the technology's incompatibility with 802.11b as the main reason for their hesitation.
"Prestandard 802.11g products have been popular, but the market has been held back because of interoperability jitters," said Brian Matthews, publicity chair for the IEEE's 802.11 working group. "But with a standard, companies can now be assured that the door is open for interoperability testing and approval by the Wi-Fi Alliance," an organization that certifies Wi-Fi products.
Matthews is also an employee at AbsoluteValue Systems a Melbourne, Fla., developer of Linux-based software for wireless LAN (local area network) products.
Manufacturers who already use 802.11g in their products have been rewarded. The specification has bolstered the growing global market for wireless networking gear, according to a study done by the Dell'Oro Group. Products based on 802.11g accounted for 16 percent of the wireless networking market's revenue and 17 percent of shipments in the first quarter, researchers said.
And with a standard looming, other companies may be more comfortable to start developing and selling 802.11g products.
Intel is one such company. Last Thursday the chipmaker said will begin using the technology in its Centrino bundle of chips sooner than it had planned. Centrino is composed of a new low-power Pentium-M processor, a chipset and Wi-Fi components tested by Intel.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company, which hadn't intended to use the technology until the first half of next year, has decided to start production by the end of this year of a Centrino package that includes an 802.11b/802.11g component. Later it plans to include 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g together in the wireless bundle.
Intel based its decision, in part, on the progress that the specification has made in the standards and interoperability approval process, and the spec's growing popularity, according to Sean Maloney, Intel executive vice president.
Another remaining hurdle for Wi-Fi technology is security, something the IEEE has been working to address with its Wi-Fi Protected Access and 802.11i specifications.
The 802.11g specification allows Wi-Fi networks to transmit data at 54mbps, uses the 2.4GHz radio band and is meant to be compatible with equipment based on earlier 802.11b wireless technology. Wi-Fi lets people wirelessly access and share resources on a network.
The changes in version 8.2 of the 802.11g specification compared to version 7.0 were not drastic, said Matthews, but "that is in the eye of the beholder."
SBC has recently taken steps toward building a public wireless local area network, the company announced . . .
The service is an attempt to fend off competition from the cable industry, say analysts, who note that SBC is the second major telephone company to use the popularity of Wi-Fi wireless networks to better compete against such rivals.
SBC spokesman Michael Coe said the broadband and telephone provider has begun shopping for the equipment needed to create public hot spots, which are places such as coffee shops or hotels where SBC customers can connect to the Internet or their office computers without wires.
Nearly a dozen equipment makers--including Cisco Systems, Proxim and Symbol Technologies--are expected to respond to the request for proposals SBC made last week.
The telecom company recently appointed a vice president of Wi-Fi, Brooks McCorlce, who is exploring "the best way for SBC to deploy Wi-Fi," Coe said. SBC has already been selling Wi-Fi access points to subscribers of its SBC Yahoo DSL (digital subscriber line) service and to its corporate customers, the spokesman said.
SBC and Verizon Communications have been experimenting with Wi-Fi technology to attract subscribers with as many services as possible. The hope is that providing customers with bundles of services will keep them from leaving for rival services.
The bundling tactic could help stave off cable companies' recent efforts to gain share in the local phone-service industry, according to some analysts. Some cable companies have grabbed 20 percent to 30 percent market share for local phone service in some areas.
Coe would not give further information about SBC's Wi-Fi plans, other than to describe them as "aggressive."
DSL providers and cellular telephone service companies have also been adding hot spots into their major markets. For instance, Verizon Communications last week unveiled 150 of the 1,000 Wi-Fi hot spots it plans to open at pay phones throughout Manhattan. The hot spots are available for free to Verizon's broadband customers.
By Scarlet Pruitt, IDG News Service
JUNE 20, 2003
Analyst firm IDC threw some cold water on the wireless hot-spot hype this week, predicting that although worldwide commercial Wi-Fi locations are set to grow 57% annually over the next five years, the market is still young and rife with uncertainty.
In a summary of a report released yesterday, IDC analysts likened the hot-spot market to a "technology gold rush" and warned that, despite promises, it's still in the early phases of deployment. Most business models are not yet proven, and the competitive landscape is very unclear, Keith Waryas, research manager of IDC's Wireless Business Network Services program, said in a statement.
The firm predicted that the Wi-Fi market would evolve in two stages, with an emphasis on network expansion over the next two years, followed by three years of relationship building among carriers. During the second phase, carriers will make network roaming agreements and partnerships that will be essential to filling gaps in their individual networks, IDC said.
Still, the market could offer some sizzling revenue opportunities. IDC estimated that Wi-Fi revenue streams would grow 143% annually over the next five years and that the number of users is due to double each year over that same period. By 2008, hot-spot users will approach 25 million, IDC said.
IDC, in Framingham, Mass., is a division of International Data Group Inc., parent company of IDG News Service.
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