Australia’s 3G network, 3, has rolled out its 3Spot Wi-Fi application for businesses and consumers. The downloadable application will turn compatible handsets into mobile wireless hotspots, allowing mobile broadband access. Using Joikusoft’s JoikuSpot technology, the 3Spot application comes with a price tag of $10.
Available from today (Mar. 31) via the 3 Apps Store on Planet 3, the 3Spot application installs easily onto any compatible Wi-Fi enabled handset, says the company. When activated, it creates a secure mobile hotspot within a radius of 10 metres of the device.
This allows users to connect their Wi-Fi enabled devices such as laptops, PCs, smartphones, and the iPod touch to the Internet without the need for cables or a USB set-up procedure.
In January this year, Finland-based Joikusoft and a telecom firm DNA joined hands to offer Joikusoft’s mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot software solution, JoikuSpot to DNA subscribers.
TapRoot Systems, a developer of software solutions for the smartphone market, is offering a similar solution. It had announced its “always-with-you” WalkingHotSpot Internet connectivity solution for buyers. With one-time software download to a Wi-Fi-enabled smartphone, WalkingHotSpot transforms Windows Mobile 6 and S60 3G/Wi-Fi smartphones into “walking” hotspots. Users can also retrieve e-mails and browse the Internet on Wi-Fi enabled devices such as laptops and MP3 players.
Similarly, Nanoradio, which designs semiconductors with wireless capability, says its “Always On Wi-Fi” solution has been commercially launched inside the world’s first 3G UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) phone.
As Wi-Fi gains momentum in the wireless connectivity markets, Trapeze Networks has bagged the Hangzhou Wi-Fi Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) project, which is claimed to be the largest Wi-Fi MAN in China.
And with the recently acquired Wayport resources, AT&T wants to strengthen its consumer Wi-Fi services covering broadband access across devices, personalized for the user and location, and business Wi-Fi applications.
“We see secure Wi-Fi access that is easy to activate and can be shared across multiple users as the next development in the mobile broadband cycle. For those customers keen to experience its benefits, the 3Spot application will meet their needs, on their existing handset with their existing X-Series package,” says Noel Hamill, 3’s director – Sales, Marketing, and Product.
With 3Spot, says Joikusoft, business buyers can use their laptops to access the web, email as well as secured Internet sites and corporate networks on-the-go. In addition, the application is made secure by using Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption to ensure protection for 3Spot connections.
I know that in the past devices tethered to a cellphone to access the web would work the same way but if you used too much broadband or downloaded what ATT thought was ‘too much’ data they started charging extra fees for going beyond just smartphone use on their network. Could the same happen with this program or others like it (the bestbuy mobile hotspot)?