so much for NYC being the WLAN capital of the world --------
> SingTel To Have 150 Wireless Hotspots By Year End > > By Seng Li Peng > > Not to be outdone by its rival, StarHub, which has recently launched a > Wireless Broadband Hub covering an area of 180,000 square meters (a size > equivalent to 28 international soccer fields) at the Suntec City building > (StarHub Launches Singapore's Largest Wireless 'Hotzone'), Singapore > Telecommunications (SingTel) has launched its own version of wireless > hotspots which have almost the entire Singapore covered. > > This means that more than 300,000 SingNet users and more than a million > SingTel Mobile's postpaid customers are now able to access the Internet > wirelessly at speeds of up to 512 kilo bits per second (Kbps) in more than > 100 outdoor surf zones in Singapore. > > Each of these zones will be marked with a SingTel 'Wireless Surf Zone' sign > and can be found in the central business district as well as suburd areas, > Starbucks cafes, Burger King outlets, Shangri-La Hotel, country clubs and > various community clubs among others. If unsure, SingTel Mobile customers > can easily locate the nearest wireless surf zone by simply keying in *624 on > their phones. > There is no monthly subscription fee to the service. SingNet dial-up and > broadband customers and SingTel Mobile postpaid customers need only to pay > for what they use and are charged US$0.11 per minute. They can access the > service by using their existing SingNet user IDs or SingTel Mobile General > Packet Radio Service (GPRS) ID (i.e. mobile phone number) and passwords > respectively. But they would need a wireless enabled notebook computer, or a > handheld device, that complies with Institute of Electrical and Electronics > Engineers (IEEE) 802.11b standard. > > According to the company's vice president (Consumer Products), Hui Weng > Cheong, SingTel plans to have at least 150 wireless surf zones by the end of > the year. "We will also offer wireless local area network (WLAN) > infrastructure to other operators and Internet Service Providers on a > wholesale basis," Hui added. > > Getting More Broadband Users Onboard > > The offerings do not stop with the wireless zones that cost the group more > than US$560,000 in investments. SingNet Broadband (which has more than 50 > percent of the domestic broadband market share with more than 92,000 > broadband ADSL lines) has also launched 'Home Wireless Surf' which enables > households a wireless broadband Internet connectivity anywhere within the > home. > As part of its plan to promote the use of pervasive and broadband services, > the service comes with no additional subscription fee and usage charges are > based on the customer's existing SingNet Broadband price plan. All they need > is an Ethernet modem, an access point and a WLAN card which cost about > US$280. > > In addition, users can opt for the new Multi-Surf - a service that allows up > to three users (one main plus two Multi-Surf accounts) in the home for > concurrent Internet access using the same ADSL connection without > compromising broadband speeds. Each additional account costs about US$20 per > month. > > Wireless Services In The Pipeline > > SingTel has also lined up a host of new value-added wireless Internet > services for its customers in the months ahead in a bid to up its mobile and > data services profits (which currently forms 48 percent of the groups > revenue). These include: > > * Prepaid wireless surf service where customers can purchase a selected > amount of Internet surf time and are given a temporary Internet account and > password for use at any wireless surf zone. > * Wireless surf for inbound roamers where roamers can request for a > temporary wireless surf account. > * Wireless broadband roaming arrangements with GRIC and iPASS for both > inbound roamers and SingTel customers traveling overseas. > * Park & Surf service which enables motorists and their passengers to > download information from car parks. > * Wireless printing service that enables users to send documents to selected > shops for printing. They can collect the printed documents later and have > the bill charged to their SingNet or SingTel Mobile account. > > -- NYCwireless - http://www.nycwireless.net/ Un/Subscribe: http://lists.nycwireless.net/mailman/listinfo/nycwireless/ Archives: http://lists.nycwireless.net/pipermail/nycwireless/
