Wireless For Free

The company specialized in Apple technology, and with the growing number of wireless-enabled laptops in the market, the technology seemed a logical extension for Tech Superpowers. More specifically, Oh wanted to allow laptop users to enter random sections of downtown Boston and log onto the Web with their wireless cards. Instead of using the store-owned Wi-Fi network at a local Starbucks, for example, users could settle into large pockets in the city,restaurants, parks, bookstores, even the stoop of a college dormitory,without being restricted to a particular vendor's domain.

Oh's vision faced some rather large obstacles, namely cost. "We started brainstorming when I got back to the office on how to make this a business here in the U.S.," Oh says. "We figured charging by the hour would be too expensive for people. We just couldn't find a way to generate revenue off of a wireless network because of the cost of all the back-end network infrastructure."

Tech Superpowers isn't the only company to struggle with creating a business around the promise of wireless. In fact, few companies have even tried to build local or public wireless networks, and the solution-provider channel has yet to fully embrace the wireless market. But Tech Superpowers, determined to succeed, went back to the drawing board and devised a rather radical idea: The 12-year-old solution provider decided to build a small Wi-Fi network, open it free to users, and use the medium to advertise itself.

"We knew we weren't going to make any money, so we just decided to turn it into a marketing effort by opening the network up for free and branding it," Oh says.

Shopping the Idea
Thus, Oh began engaging local businesses on Newbury Street, asking owners if Tech Superpowers could install wireless repeaters in their shops to power the Wi-Fi network. The initial feedback, however, was less than enthusiastic. "I pitched the idea to about 10 businesses, and only two responded," Oh says. "Most of them didn't want people with laptops in their stores."

In March 2002, Oh finally got his first bite,Trident Booksellers Cafe, a popular bookstore-restaurant combination and ideal location for laptop-toting college students and Mac-loving, 20-something Bostonians. Soon thereafter, The Wrap, a heavily trafficked sandwich shop, joined as well. Tech Superpowers installed wireless access points with antennas in both locations and secured the Wi-Fi network with a firewall. Patrons at The Wrap were even able to access NewburyOpen.net,Newbury Street's connection to the Net,within the restaurant's inside seating areas as well as the outside patio.

"It's cool. People here recognize how valuable a free network is," says Adam Liebman, owner of The Wrap. "There's a lot of hype around wireless today, but this is a way for real people to use it."

Tech Superpowers' initial investment to build the network came to roughly $3,000, excluding the T-1 line the solution provider had already purchased. Oh spent an additional $3,000 to $4,000 to build out the network and add wireless repeaters to six other locations on the popular commercial street; components were from Hawking Technology, Lucent, Sun Microsystems, 3Com, and, of course, Apple. On average, NewburyOpen.net now attracts approximately 20 users a day. The network did about 350 MB of traffic on a Sunday about a month ago, Oh says.

The most remarkable aspect of OpenNewbury.net is that it has essentially replaced Tech Superpowers' traditional advertising efforts. At nearly $7,000, the one-time total investment in the network is about equal to what the solution provider was spending on ads and marketing for just a two-month span.

"It's the most effective marketing we've ever had," Oh says. "We've gotten quite a bit of business through the network. It's more bang for our buck. We did a lot of print and radio ads, but they don't work nearly as well. By making a one-time investment, we've saved a lot of money."

Essentially, NewburyOpen.Net has paid for itself. Users, many of them Apple aficionados, clue into Tech Superpowers' ads for Apple products, Mac maintenance and other services. The majority of the network's users own laptops, which is one of Tech Superpowers' specialties. Oh says the Wi-Fi network also has helped it win SMB clients.

The network's design is quite unique as well. Built with "off-the-shelf components and a very good working knowledge of IP networks," according to NewburyOpen.Net's Web site, the Wi-Fi network is based on the 802.11b wireless standard, which is the same industry standard built into Apple's PowerBook and iBook models.

In addition, all of NewburyOpen.net's multiple nodes are completely wireless themselves, except for power sources; all six locations on Newbury Street are connected to Tech Superpowers' central T-1 backbone using 802.11b wireless technology. The aim, Oh says, is to deploy wireless access points quickly and with little overhead. What better way to build out wireless infrastructure, after all, than with wireless itself? "We're looking to expand to 20 or 30 nodes on the street, and at that point we'll probably have to expand bandwidth," Oh says.

Future Template
While Tech Superpowers has come up with a compelling business model that could serve as a future template for overall wireless network growth, Oh and his team are also challenging the old model that charges anywhere from $2.99 for every 15 minutes of access to $50 a month for unlimited use. The pay-for-wireless model is championed by such brand names as Starbucks Coffee and Borders Books, as well as other large companies. But Oh hopes to extend his free public Wi-Fi network and has even taken his act on the road. Last fall, Oh installed Wi-Fi equipment in a black 1997 Saturn coupe, including a 6-foot antenna, that extends the NewburyOpen.net network within a 150-foot radius. On a couple of occasions, Oh has even parked the "Wi-Fi mobile" outside a local Starbucks.

Tech Superpowers has published the specifications and design of OpenNewbury.net, and its popularity is growing. NewburyOpen.net has its own message forum, dubbed the "Wi-Fi Forum," with more than 80 registered members at last count. At least one of the commercial businesses that joined the network was pressured to do so by a staunch Mac user, too. Oh hopes other solution providers get into the Wi-Fi act soon, and to convince more people to spread wireless for free.

"The problem with Wi-Fi is that guys like Intel and Cometa are thinking about big businesses, not the individual users. The thing we're trying to prove is that Wi-Fi is about giving people access in the places they go every day through a local network," Oh says. "There's real potential for VARs to build and offer wireless network and make money doing it, too."