Mind Commerce research encompassed in the report, Public Access Wireless LAN Case Studies explores all of these issues in depth and offers the reader a unique perspective on the hotspot movement in the United States, Europe and Asia. By reading this study, obvious patterns of development emerge, and with that, steps towards a profitable business case. The WLAN business case takes each major hotspot operator on, reviewing what they’ve done so far and recommending what they should do in the future. We predict who is going to go under and why, and who will succeed. In this study we discuss the new patterns emerging, including the fact that more and more hotels are offering WLAN service for free, much to the chagrin of operators, aggregators and others.  

We feel strongly that the market in the US for WLAN has great potential if certain steps are taken. These steps would include:

1. Drastic lowering of cost, if bundled in with an existing service such as mobile phone service or “office-pack” where the customers’ office is “un” wired-up.

2. Security improvements

3. Easier log-in procedures and ad-hoc sessions

In the future there will also be an evolution towards WLAN access for mobile phones. Most operators are naturally terrified of this, but the Japanese have already been testing this in their labs over the past few years and it will undoubtedly come to fruition.

Our prediction is that Boingo will be acquired in 2004, Wayport will gain strength, and T-Mobile will purchase either Boingo or Wayport, but most likely Boingo. STSN will be the all-around strength winner.

For details on these predictions, we recommend reading a copy of our study, which over the past year has been the only report whose predictions have come true, and whose recommendations were taken up by major players in the WLAN field. For more information, CLICK HERE

Public Access WLAN Case Studies 2007