AT&T Wireless to provide Wi-Fi in hotels, airports -WSJ
Reuters, 01.28.03, 3:09 AM ET

NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) - AT&T Wireless Services Inc. (nyse: AWE - news - people) has signed an agreement with Wayport Inc. to give subscribers high-speed, wireless Web access at more than 475 hotels and several airports with a technology called Wi-Fi, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

AT&T Wireless customers will have to pay for Wayport's Wi-Fi access, a technology for accessing the Internet without a fixed line, even if they already subscribe to the carrier's data service, the newspaper said. The Wi-Fi service, called GoPort, will range in price from $9.99 for unlimited use over a 24-hour period to $69.99 for unlimited use over 30 days.

The mobile phone carrier's plans are expected to be announced Tuesday, the article said, and come a month after it said it was scaling back its plans to build a network to offer Web services at high speeds over a traditional cellular network.

Unlike the traditional network, Wi-Fi's range is limited to a few hundred feet, but the speeds are generally 40 to 50 times faster than cellular, and potentially faster.

AT&T Wireless is also building its own Wi-Fi network at Philadelphia International Airport, and plans to build out Wi-Fi services in more airports, people familiar with the situation told the Journal. It has operated a Wi-Fi network in Denver International Airport since autumn 2002.

The access in Wayport's hotels is almost all in common areas and meeting rooms, not in guest rooms, according to the report.

Some of the airports that AT&T Wireless customers will have access to will have Wi-Fi available throughout the airport, and AT&T Wireless's own Wi-Fi airport plans will include the entire airport, not just clubs.

AT&T Wireless and Wayport were not immediately available for comment early on Tuesday morning.

Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service