Coffee-house chain Starbucks gave a major boost to local wireless computer networks by rolling out wireless connections in its shops in the US, Berlin and London this week.
The technology, known as "Wi-Fi" -- or wireless fidelity -- allows computer users to log into the Internet using 802.11b technology, a wireless protocol that can be added to existing laptops and handheld devices through a plug-in computer card.
The service is a joint venture between Starbucks, Hewlett-Packard and T-Mobile, a wireless communications company. HP will supply the hardware and software for the system, and T-Mobile provides the high-speed data lines to the coffee houses.
Wi-Fi networks are small, high-speed wireless Internet networks that usually encompass a single home or office site. Some airports and other public sites are experimenting with the technology.
The Starbucks initiative, which now includes about 1,200 of its coffee houses, is being seen as a major endorsement of the technology, which is gaining popularity as cell-phone data networks, including GSM/GPRS, lag in consumer adoption.
Wi-Fi, unlike cell-phone-based wireless Internet networks, are relatively easy to set up. Many are used in private homes, where a wireless transmitter, or gateway is installed to broadcast an Internet connection to computers throughout a house. The cost of such networks are usually less than US$300.
In the San Francisco area, homeowners have banded together to share these networks, using toilet paper rolls wrapped in wire to boost antennae strength to share a high-speed Internet connection with an entire neighborhood block.
"While we wait for telecommunications companies to come up with cheap, dependable wireless networks, this is certainly the next best thing," said Shane Kehoe, a member of the Bay Area Wireless Users Group, a grassroots organization that offers advice on creating local wireless Internet services. "The Starbucks initiative will certainly add to the movement."
Starbucks, which also sells coffee in Asia and the Middle East, is hoping it can snag a percentage of an estimated 40 million US workers that work outside their offices, offering them a fast Internet connection with their coffee.
Through T-Mobile, Starbucks is offering a wireless card that plugs into a computer for US$65. Rate plans start at US$3 per 15 minutes and go up to a US$50-per-month national account.
"We're pretty excited about all this," said Starbucks spokeswoman Megan Behrbaum. "We think it will be a real attractor for the wandering worker."
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