Wireless Wealth
Location, Location, Location
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What makes a good hot-spot location? The best is someplace with
a built-in audience and a high number of repeat customers. You
should put less emphasis on using Wi-Fi to draw new crowds, as the
added promotion will probably cost more than it's worth. Find
locations with established foot traffic, especially if they're
also high-loitering locations where people sit for a while--like
coffee shops, train stations and airports. Or target a premium
location along the travel ribbon, where businesspeople on the road
gather--airports, hotels, restaurants adjacent to hotels and so on.
Wireless is invisible, so no matter what, make sure you put up
signs to promote the hot spot. Understanding more about Wi-Fi users can help you identify the
best places to locate a hot spot. There are three primary kinds of
Wi-Fi users: - Business travelers:
They're constantly looking for ways to connect to their homes
or offices to get e-mail and access to files. According to the
Department of Transportation, there are 27 million business
travelers with laptops traversing the United States. Some of these
users buy the connectivity themselves, and some are on enterprise
connection plans.
| Learn More | | Want to use Wi-Fi while
you're doing business on the road? Click here for news for you. |
- Local subscribers: They use
public Wi-Fi in addition to or as a substitute for broadband and
visit the same hot spot (such as a particular coffee shop) several
times a week. Most local Wi-Fi plans have unlimited access for
around $20 to $30 per month, so this is less expensive than
installing cable or DSL at home for $40 to $50 per month.
- Occasional surfers: These
users catch a few minutes here and there but don't have a set
pattern. The cost of the connection isn't important to them
because they don't connect frequently enough to incur huge
charges. To generate consistent sales, though, you're better
off targeting other users.
| The Comeback Corp. | CEDX Corp. has
been installing all kinds of networks since 1997. Founded by Craig
Plunkett, 40 (pictured, using Wi-Fi on the go), the company has
designed and installed both wired and wireless networks. Despite
losing his largest account in the World Trade Center attack,
Plunkett says the company will hit sales of half a million dollars
this year. Content Continues Below
The East Northport, New York, company rebounded from 9/11 due in
large part to its expertise with Wi-Fi networks. CEDX uses the
highly flexible NetNearU Wi-Fi access point hardware to roll out
networks for both public hot spots (typically owned by CEDX) and
private corporations. Once in place, Plunkett uses the back-end
services of NetNearU to provide exceptional customer service. With
a Web-enabled monitoring system, CEDX can watch the activity and
status of each hot spot on every network it has deployed. Plunkett is quick to share one secret of his success: industry
partnerships. "Besides NetNearU, we also have partnerships
with the local carriers," he says. "They point us to new
accounts, and we install their services. We resell DSL, e-mail
services and Web hosting, plus we do Web development. We really aim
to be a one-stop shop." -D.W. |
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