IP: Boingo!

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
>
> Boingo!
>
> Chic wireless hotspots are more than a local source for high-speed 
> Internet access with a cup of cappuccino. As a matter of fact, public 
> hotspots are a hot bed of aggregator activities in the Wi-Fi marketplace.
>
> by Gerry Blackwell
> [January 22, 2002]
> <http://isp-planet.com/fixed_wireless/business/2002/boingo.html>
>
> It takes all kinds to make a wireless roaming world.
>
> We already have the Wayports and Mobilestars, pioneering public access 
> wireless network operators.
>
> We also have a slew of local and regional johnny-come-latelies and 
> free-wireless peaceniks adding to the public access footprint a few 
> hotspots at a time.
>
> We have iPass and GRIC, carry-overs from the dial-up roaming era, 
> feverishly adding high-speed Wi-Fi hotspots to their rosters.
>
> And now we have a new breed of roaming access player: the wireless-only 
> hotspot aggregator. Meet Boingo Wireless Inc.
>
> Boing, boing, boing
> Founded by EarthLink Chairman Sky Dayton, the new company's chief 
> executive officer and chairman, Boingo is based in Santa Monica, CA with 
> about 35 employees. Day-to-day operations are handled by President David Hagan.
>
> So why do we need a Boingo if we already have all those other players?
>
> Before we try to answer that question more fully, consider this response 
> from the marketplace.
>
> Even though at the time of writing it was still officially in beta 
> mode-the commercial launch is later in January-Boingo already had 750 
> wireless hotspots across he U.S.
>
> According to Hagan, this represents 96 percent of the available wireless 
> POPs in the country. In other words, Boingo has managed to make partners 
> of almost all of the public access wireless network operators out there.
>
> Neither iPass nor GRIC can match these totals, especially not in North 
> America-their Wi-Fi power bases are mainly in Asia Pacific.
>
> How did Boingo manage this feat? How did it out-aggregate the big-time 
> aggregators even before its commercial launch?
>
> No doubt, the heavy-weight EarthLink presence had something to do with it. 
> But Boingo also has some interesting differentiators.
>
> Unlike iPass and GRIC, it is targeting individual business travelers first 
> rather than enterprises. What it's offering is extreme ease of use.
>
> "We're trying to bring wireless roaming to the masses," Hagan says.
>
> "Our target is the road warrior who feels the pain of not being able to 
> get high-speed access. We're making it really easy for him to authorize 
> and authenticate. We offer one bill, online invoicing. It's really very 
> simple to use."
>
> One of the things Boingo spent its seed money on was developing dead 
> simple client software that incorporates a wireless access point 
> "sniffer." It can detect any available hotspot within range and associate 
> with it automatically-including where footprints overlap, and including 
> free hotspots.
>
> The program also lets users search for a particular hotspot by location in 
> its table of sites.
>
> The sniffer technology is essentially what Microsoft incorporated in 
> Windows XP-Boingo has simply ported it down to Win98 and ME. But it does 
> raise the alarming specter of Boingo subscribers using the company's 
> software for war driving-sniffing out unprotected corporate WLANs.
>
> Hagan dismisses this.
>
> "It's really the network operator's business and responsibility to make 
> sure they're protecting their network," he says. "Whether it's a corporate 
> or public access network. Most of the networks our software locates are 
> protected."
>
> Boingo and its partners use a variety of methods to authenticate 
> subscribers, explains director of product management Christian Gunning.
>
> "We use existing authentication methods, plus we hand key [network 
> operator partners] some additional information so they recognize the 
> subscriber as one of ours," Gunning says. "They pass it to us, we 
> authenticate and pass it back to them."
>
> "Partners don't have a whole lot to do [in terms of technology 
> integration.] We're using industry standard protocols, existing 
> authentication techniques. It's just minor tweaks here and there."
>
> Hagan believes the corporate market will eventually emerge-Boingo is 
> already working on an enterprise offering. But he sees public access Wi-Fi 
> evolving more like the cellular market.
>
> "Enterprises will become interested," he says, "once they realize there 
> are quite a few individuals in their companies who have bought our service."
>
> <snip>

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