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	Issue TOC Print full article Print this page Download as PDF E-Mail this URL Discuss this article Flame the author     In this article Introduction Hotspot Players Executive Summary Hotspots and 3G: A Future Together? Just How Hot Are Hotspot Services? Dual Elements of Hotspot ROI E-Poll Results

Readers polled for this article were nearly evenly split between those who had never used a hotspot service and those who had. More than three-quarters of respondents carry a notebook computer while traveling, and about 60 percent work in environments where central IT has implemented pilot or production internal WLAN services. This admittedly techie-weighted sample provided some interesting insights about hotspots:

• The venues considered most important for coverage are hotels, convention centers, airports and libraries. Convenience stores, gas/service stations and urban parks are viewed as least important. We found it interesting that even our relatively experienced respondents tend to identify conventional venues as most important, indicating service providers have been doing a good job of grabbing the low-hanging fruit.

• About three-quarters of readers polled say a viable hotspot provider must offer coverage in at least 50 percent of the 100 largest U.S. cities, and about a third peg the threshold at above 75 percent.

• Interestingly, though major cellular providers like T-Mobile hope availability of hotspots will drive increased demand for conventional voice services, almost 75 percent of respondents do not feel it is important to receive hotspot services from a cellular company with which they have an existing business relationship.

• Gric Communications and iPass, which bundle wireless and dial-up services, will be pleased to hear that about 60 percent of our respondents say bundling is important.

• In terms of price expectations, the results are about evenly split between two monthly price points: less than $25, and $25 to $50. Only 3 percent are willing to pay more than that. Although the largest percentage (42 percent) prefer an unlimited monthly charge model, it appears potential customers may be flexible in that regard.