'Wi-fi' makes laptop net access a breeze in the Auckland CBD

By PETER GRIFFIN IT writer

Downtown Auckland is set to join the likes of San Francisco and Seattle as a wireless internet hotspot where cafe goers flip open laptops rather than newspapers over their morning brew.

Wireless operator RoamAD has built a network covering three square kilometres of the central business district where it is offering wireless internet access for owners of laptops and handheld computers equipped with "Wi-Fi" or wireless network cards, which typically cost $200 to $300.

The venture, partly backed by property developer Andrew Krukziener, will soon extend to a fifty square kilometre area of the city and reach areas like Ponsonby and Parnell.

Web surfers would enjoy access speeds of up to 330Kbps (kilobits per second) as they moved around the CBD, their connection switching to the nearest radio access point just as cellphone calls are handed from one cell tower to another.

The network is operated over the unregulated 2.4GHz spectrum band used by wireless operators Walker Wireless and Radionet through to microwaves and cordlesss phones.

RoamAD plans to make money wholesaling its network services to telcos and internet providers who will use their marketing power to attract subscribers. More than 3000 subscribers could connect to the network at one time without access speeds dropping.

WorldxChange was being used as a telecoms interconnect partner allowing voice calls to be made over the network, however the quality of calls was average.

RoamAD chief executive Paul Stoddart, said pricing of the service would come down to the resellers, none of whom he was willing to talk about yet.

"My expectation is that pricing will come in between ADSL and the 2.5G mobile offerings," said Stoddart.

That would see RoamAD's service priced with a monthly data cap at a premium to Telecom's Jetstream service, which requires access to a phone line, but less expensive than the mobile data services of Telecom and Vodafone.

While RoamAD will face competition from the likes of Walker Wireless which is trialling its own high speed wireless service in Auckland, Stoddart says the service would avoid competing with the mobile operators existing services.

"It will allow them to position this so they don't cannibalise their legacy network products," said Stoddart, a veteran of both Vodafone and Walker Wireless.

RoamAD, registered as Nomad Communications, had raised "millions of dollars" through two funding rounds and was going to the market for more capital. The company was divided among more than 40 shareholders, with a group of US and local engineers responsible for developing the technology, holding a 20 per cent stake under the Anguilla-registered company Rebus Group International.

RoamAD's chairman Martyn Levy said Krukziener was a seed investor who bought in 18 months ago. He owned around 10 per cent of RoamAD which based its network operations centre in his Albert Street building.

Stoddart said RoamAD would be able to tap into demand for 3G (third generation) like services but could build the network at just five per cent of the cost of constructing a 3G mobile network. Coverage could be extended to a fifty square kilometre area for $2.5 million to $3 million.

University campuses could also be brought into the loop cheaply - for between $300,000 and $400,000 said Stoddart.

Wireless networks operating on the 802.11b standard have grown haphazardly overseas in the last two years, but are particularly popular in large US cities where hotels, restaurants and the StarBucks coffee chain have developed their own wireless hotspots.

Sydney-based telecoms analyst Paul Budde, said he was an enthusiastic user of Wi-Fi, but building a business case around it was proving a headache for wireless operators.

"In all these years there are now three hotels in Sydney and two hotels in Melbourne connected. Every time I book in I have to double check if it is working."

Commercialisation of the technology has in part been hampered by 802.11b's poor security record and it's vulnerability to traffic congestion due to its open access.

But Stoddart said RoamAD's network would not fall victim to the web's latest fad, warchalking - where the tech minded flag spots where fellow wireless enthusiasts can log onto unsecure wireless networks for free internet access.

The double-curved symbol of the warchalkers has begun to appear on pavements and in shop windows from London to San Francisco, striking fear into corporates who discover the symbol in their own neighbourhood.

Stoddart said a mix of encryption technology and password cross-referencing kept the network secure.

He expected the service to be commercially available with add-ons allowing business customers to log into company networks, by Christmas.

RoamAD

Walker Wireless