Wireless/Mobile /

The calm before the WLAN storm

By Joanie Wexler
Network World Wireless in the Enterprise Newsletter, 02/18/02

Sprint PCS joined the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance a couple months ago. As recently as last week, the company would explain only that it is " exploring the WLAN/802.11 space. "

Then AT&T joined the HomeRF group. Its explanation was that it is interested in possibly bundling WLANs, Internet access, and long-distance services into consumer service packages (you read about those here first, remember!). " But there are no imminent announcements, " a company spokeswoman hastened to add. AT&T Wireless and AT&T Broadband say they aren't in the WLAN business - yet.

And what are we hearing from the Tier 1 ISPs about getting into the 802.11 roaming (or " hot spot " ) business, currently being seeded by wireless ISPs (WISP) with lots of moxie but little brand recognition? Nada.

I don't know about you, but I feel we're in the proverbial lull before the storm. The other shoe is about to drop. Pick your cliché. Whatever their strategies, the big carriers have simply got to be getting into position to invade the WLAN services space. After all, they are the ones with the brand recognition and the large network footprints to make the services a success.

Consider the public access WLAN services becoming available in airports, hotels, conference centers, coffee shops and even on part of the beach in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., thanks to AirPath Wireless, a small WISP based in Toledo, Ohio. Some aggregators and clearinghouses are beginning to integrate these stovepipe WLAN services to enable broader roaming, which makes the services more useful and worth their cost. Note, for example, the arrival of Boingo Wireless into the WLAN hot spot market last month. Boingo is aggregating the network footprints of all the WISPs it can, so it can turn around and sell you a unified service with a single logon and bill. This type of unification is just what the public WLAN market needs.

From an enterprise perspective, though, it is likely that I'd want my existing ISP or data services carrier to be the one to ride in on the white horse. It would seem awfully convenient if my primary carrier could also offer me WLAN roaming services alongside my existing services. Not to mention that the additional traffic would count toward my volume discount.

Perhaps it will be the competitive local exchange carrier business all over again, with the bigger players circling, ready to swoop down and feed on the small WISP innovators if they run into financial hurdles. Note, for example, VoiceStream's recent takeover of the ambitious, but bankrupt, MobileStar, the high-profile WISP that had captured the Starbucks Coffee WLAN business. Foreshadowing, possibly?