Hotspot Appliance - Page 2

TarHeelV · 05-23-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by helio

And are they hiring?? (just curious)

Trying to keep the commercial out, but we are in North Carolina and may be hiring in the next few months

jedsierra · 06-07-2004

My two cents:

In my reading of WIFI as a product, service or offering, I have fomulated the following thought:

WIFI is either a for profit venture (charge the end user) or an open venture (free to the user and a cost to the operator)

In the profit venture, commercially available packages are in abundance. I'd partner with an existing network provider and join the fray (ipass, boingo, wayport etc . . .)

On the open venture - I like the model that http://newburyopen.net has taken. The cost of operation is covered by a directly connected business offering that uses WIFI strictly as a marketing and Page Ranking tool. (loss leader)
Any expenses would be covered by the business wishing to be promoted and costs would have to be kept to a minimum.

The model of outsourcing a FREE hotspot management service may work only if it is directly tied to increase service, product or offering sales by the business owner.

I think that the continuation of a nationwide "open source" group dedicated to the sharing of knowledge, resources and information lowering the cost of offering free wifi is the way to go. This would provide local business with the bulk of resources to provide free internet access as part of their product offerings. (open source groups such as nycwireless.com muniwireless.com etc.)

In the end, I'm not sure that a hotspot appliance with the costs describe would work . . . Then again, a package to partner with local businesses to assist in there offering might work for some . . . My thought would be to offer the hotspot appliance a one of several "service offerings" to a business that could include small business network, server and workstation support.

TarHeelV · 06-07-2004

I personally feel that the free vs fee battle will end up in the free camp. Sure, there will be a market for the fee based model, but only where there is a captive audience such as airports. When looked at as an amenity, offering free wireless access can be a huge differentiator. None of the fee players have shown that they are making any money. In a free scenario, while you may not be able to show revenue directly, ie, we received a check from X for people using our hotspot, you can show an increase in average ticket sale, increase in the number of sales per day, etc. With reporting, you have the ability to actually see who is using and how they are using your hotspot.

Regarding pricing, due to the feedback here and on other forums, we have recalculated pricing, etc, to where the initial appliance is aroun $1K with monthly management in the $120/month range. This would be a fully-managed and monitored turnkey (true plug and forget) application and appliance.

06-07-2004	#17 (permalink)
jedsierra Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Miami, Florida Posts: 3	WIFI - Loss leader My two cents: In my reading of WIFI as a product, service or offering, I have fomulated the following thought: WIFI is either a for profit venture (charge the end user) or an open venture (free to the user and a cost to the operator) In the profit venture, commercially available packages are in abundance. I'd partner with an existing network provider and join the fray (ipass, boingo, wayport etc . . .) On the open venture - I like the model that http://newburyopen.net has taken. The cost of operation is covered by a directly connected business offering that uses WIFI strictly as a marketing and Page Ranking tool. (loss leader) Any expenses would be covered by the business wishing to be promoted and costs would have to be kept to a minimum. The model of outsourcing a FREE hotspot management service may work only if it is directly tied to increase service, product or offering sales by the business owner. I think that the continuation of a nationwide "open source" group dedicated to the sharing of knowledge, resources and information lowering the cost of offering free wifi is the way to go. This would provide local business with the bulk of resources to provide free internet access as part of their product offerings. (open source groups such as nycwireless.com muniwireless.com etc.) In the end, I'm not sure that a hotspot appliance with the costs describe would work . . . Then again, a package to partner with local businesses to assist in there offering might work for some . . . My thought would be to offer the hotspot appliance a one of several "service offerings" to a business that could include small business network, server and workstation support.

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06-07-2004	#18 (permalink)
TarHeelV Registered Member Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 8	I personally feel that the free vs fee battle will end up in the free camp. Sure, there will be a market for the fee based model, but only where there is a captive audience such as airports. When looked at as an amenity, offering free wireless access can be a huge differentiator. None of the fee players have shown that they are making any money. In a free scenario, while you may not be able to show revenue directly, ie, we received a check from X for people using our hotspot, you can show an increase in average ticket sale, increase in the number of sales per day, etc. With reporting, you have the ability to actually see who is using and how they are using your hotspot. Regarding pricing, due to the feedback here and on other forums, we have recalculated pricing, etc, to where the initial appliance is aroun $1K with monthly management in the $120/month range. This would be a fully-managed and monitored turnkey (true plug and forget) application and appliance.