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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, January 16, 2005

Working out Wi-Fi's kinks

By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer

Wireless Waikiki is rapidly becoming a reality.

Vince DePalma, a contractor from Seattle, takes advantage of the free wireless option offered poolside at the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel.

Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

So-called Wi-Fi Internet access — which allows people to connect their laptop computers to the Internet without a phone line —Êis offered at major hotels, the Honolulu Convention Center, various shops and by several telecommunications companies.

Unfortunately there is no coordination among providers. That means those looking to surf the Web instead of the waves have to pay one fee at the airport, another at the convention center and still another at their hotel.

"That's stupid because nobody's going to want to do that," said Rae Drzymala, marketing manager for Pacific LightNet Communications, which plans to roll out a Wi-Fi service in Waikiki this quarter.

Making it possible for visitors to connect to the Internet from anywhere in Waikiki is a goal of the tourist industry and seen as one way to improve the state's reputation as a place for business, not just leisure.

"There's a greater expectation today that we have that kind

of service especially in a business or group market," said Murray Towill, president of the Hawai'i Hotel & Lodging Association. "You need to ensure there's connectivity and access to the Internet that visitors to Hawai'i want."

But the patchwork of proprietary systems in Waikiki can limit the usefulness of the technology.

"The question is how do we bring everybody together knowing that we've got multiple (service) providers?" said state tourism liaison Marsha Wienert.

Towill said the Hawai'i Hotel & Lodging Association is starting a process aimed at determining which hotels offer Wi-Fi. From there the issue is how to make a wireless Waikiki more user- friendly.

"There's a lot of talk about it, but not a whole lot of progress," Towill said.

In Waikiki, the increasingly crowded and unregulated Wi-Fi, or wireless fidelity, market includes Skywave Broadband, Hurricane Internet, ShakaNet and a host of hotels ranging from the Ilikai to the Aston Sunset.

Several of these businesses agree that partnerships providing more seamless and consumer-friendly services would likely drive more people to pay for such services. For now, though, many are focusing on building their own base of customers. Experts said it's a dilemma faced nationwide by travelers.

Don Meier, a recent visitor to Waikiki from London, said he paid $10 for one day's Wi-Fi access at a Starbucks in Waikiki.

"I got all my e-mails for three days and didn't do it again," he said, as he sat outside of the fitness room at the Sheraton Waikiki. "They should have a roaming thing like with cell phones."

Wi-Fi works by beaming signals from a so-called "hot spot" or Internet access point to and from a properly equipped computer. An average Wi-Fi hot spot will provide coverage to circular area with about a 150-foot radius.

Properly equipped computers can detect Wi-Fi services available at any particular location and list them for the user, who can then punch in a credit-card number to pay for access by the hour, day, week or month.

The cost ranges from free at Aston's Waikiki Beachside and Waikiki Sunset up to $9.95 a day from companies such as Skywave Broadband. More economical monthly rates run about $40 to $50.

As cell phones, personal data assistants and laptop computers become commonplace, more and more visitors are requesting and expecting wireless Internet access.

Availability is becoming less of an issue in Waikiki with more hotels — including Starwood Hotels & Resorts-run Sheraton-Waikiki, Royal Hawaiian Hotel and Sheraton Moana Surfrider — recently adding the service.

ShakaNet, which offers access at the airport and hotels such as the Ala Moana Hotel, plans to roll out street-level Wi-Fi service in Waikiki this quarter.

Wi-Fi service now is so prevalent that recent visitor Vince DePalma, a contractor from Seattle, had three options available: two at $10 a day and one for free. DePalma chose the free service offered poolside at the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel.

"I've gotten three proposals done here in the last day and a half," he said. "What an office."

ShakaNet Vice President Nam Vu acknowledged that the wireless airspace above Waikiki is getting crowded as each provider attempts to build a subscriber base.

"Right now it's kind of a land grab, with many people just trying to get as many places as they can and as much coverage as they can," he said.

To sign up more people service providers ultimately may need to partner so users can roam across Wi-Fi networks, Vu said.

"I think that will probably be pushed by the subscribers," he said. "It's kind of messed up right now, but it will clear up once people start using it more."

Until that happens, people will be less willing to subscribe to such services, said Jerald Murphy, a senior vice president at technology researcher Meta Group.

"People really don't want to pay $10 a day for a service they'll use for a few minutes while waiting at the airport, but they will pay $20 to $30 a month for a service they can use anytime, anywhere," he said. "People can't get that today because of the fragmentation.

"One of the ways forward that is going to happen increasingly are these inter-roaming features. Until they get these tools in place it is going to hamper adoption."

In terms of fostering such collaboration the city and state appear to be on the sidelines. Bill Brennan, a spokesman for Mayor Mufi Hannemann, could not provide details of any plans for wireless Waikiki.

For now, hotels mainly offer wireless Internet access to keep up with competitors that also want to meet customer demands. For others, such as the Dunkin' Donuts in Kapahulu, the idea is to boost sales.

"The goal, obviously, is you keep the customer in the store a little longer and you increase your chances of a sale or additional sales," said Ken Iong, Dunkin' Donuts franchise owner.

"For us it seems to be working out pretty well. We're obviously not making a lot of money (directly from Wi-Fi) because that's not what we're in business to do. We're in the business to sell doughnuts."

Similarly, at Skywave, the results of providing Wi-Fi Internet access in Waikiki, downtown Honolulu and Hawai'i Kai has been mixed.

"We haven't scaled it up to the point where I'm smoking cigars and golfing every day, but it's a profitable enterprise if you have the right location," said Joshua Beil, co-founder of Skywave Broadband. So far demand has been greatest in Waikiki, he said.

"There's a lot of activity there. It's a hot market," Beil said.

Such results are typical, said Meta Group's Murphy.

"You've yet to see anybody that's really found a long-term profitable business model," he said. "Hawai'i's situation is not unique."

At the same time, Waikiki's crowded Wi-Fi market and the proliferation of service providers show that businesses recognize the importance of offering guests Internet connectivity.

The only problem is making that seamless.

"It's a really tough thing," said Jason Ito, general manager of support services for Starwood Hotels. "It's a Waikiki issue. It's not a hotel issue.

"Unfortunately we get stuck in the mud sometimes where everybody thinks about what's in it for me."

Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8093.