Major British airport to roll out wireless Net access

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Major British airport to roll out wireless Net access

LONDON (Reuters) =97 Wi-Fi, one of the year's most hyped new technologies,=
=20
landed at Heathrow Airport on Monday with the opening of a high-speed=20
wireless computing zone for travellers. Wi-Fi, or wireless fidelity, will=20
allow people to access the Internet and e-mails from their laptop computers=
=20
at public "hot spots" including airport lounges, hotel lobbies and coffee=20
shops equipped with special transmitters. U.S. chip giant Intel is one of=20
the technology heavyweights banking on the expectation that wireless=20
surfing will jumpstart tepid demand for laptop computers. It has invested=20
tens of millions of dollars in a global marketing push behind Centrino, a=20
new wireless technology built into new laptops that enables wireless=20
surfing over the transmission technology, 80211.b. "In the UK, we'd like to=
=20
see 2,000 hot spots by year-end. There are 800 now," David Mitchell, head=20
of brand marketing for Intel UK, told Reuters on Monday.  He added Britain=
=20
is the second most advanced Wi-Fi market in Europe, behind Scandanavia. The=
=20
United States has the most Wi-Fi connection points. Intel has teamed up=20
with a host of firms in Britain, including telecoms company BT Group and=20
airports operator BAA.

In addition to the arrivals lounge of Heathrow's Terminal One, the=20
companies have rigged hotspots at London's Gatwick, Stansted airports and=20
the Aberdeen airport. Intel said the technology was also launched at Paris'=
=20
Charles De Gaulle Airport last week, while Frankfurt Airport would go live=
=20
next month. The Wi-Fi service, which promises connection speeds=20
considerably higher than dial-up home broadband, commands a price in the UK=
=20
and Europe aimed at the business professional. BT, for example, charges =A36=
=20
($9.30) per hour or =A385 per month.  A big criticism is the lack of roaming=
=20
agreements between Europe's various Wi-Fi operators, which also include=20
Europe's second biggest mobile phone operator, T-Mobile. For example,=20
London's Paddington Station is equipped with Wi-Fi hotspots operated by=20
Swisscom, making a BT offering redundant in the same place for now. "It's=20
the very early days. We're hoping over the next year we'll see roaming=20
agreements so you can have an account with one group and be able to connect=
=20
to another group's hot spot," said Mitchell. In another development, U.S.=20
airplane maker Boeing will give a presentation in London on Tuesday to=20
discuss its plans for equipping commercial planes with Wi-Fi technology.


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