September 2002

Following the announcement of BT's plan for a public network of wireless Internet access points (m.logistics, issue 1), it has emerged other similar services are also being developed. Business or domestic users carrying some form of portable computer will be able to log on to the Internet wirelessly at the access points, using an 802.11b wireless local-area network in the immediate vicinity, and will benefit from much faster connection speeds than possible with GPRS or even the forthcoming G3 mobile phones.

Some observers feel these proposed networks threaten to undermine the viability of G3 mobile technology, although much would depend on the ease of access and speed of network roll-out, which are still unknowns at the moment.

In the UK and Europe, a service is being created by a business called Megabeam, which was set up two years ago by ex-Ericsson executive Ryan Jarvis. Its plans are initially less ambitious than BT's. So far it has "hot spot" sites at Paddington station and in Hammersmith and Reading, but under a deal with Railtrack it will go active in 15 main railway stations, starting by the end of the year at Euston, Liverpool Street, Victoria and Waterloo.

Currently Megabeam is most active in Italy and Germany, where the majority of its sites are in hotels. It aims to have around 60 hot spots across Europe by the end of this year, and will offer charging by the hour, by the day, by the week or per year.

 

A broadly similar network is being developed in Japan by NTT-ME, which has already won support from several railway companies, as well as from IT suppliers such as Compaq, Fuji, Hitachi and Oki. The latest to join them is US-based Microtune, the developer of a single-chip broadband tuner device. Phased implementation could start as soon as November.

In the US, a service called Project Rainbow is reported to be planned by a group of developers including IBM, Intel, AT&T and several telecoms companies, although no firm decision on a go-ahead seems imminent.