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Munich airport offers choice of WISP

Munich Airport has set up a WiFi hotspot that provides air passengers with a choice of ISP.

The World's First Multiple ISP Hotspot, as it is being billed, was built as an extension to the airport's own wireless LAN using technology from Cisco Systems.

Unlike most hotspots the system is being run by airport operator Flughafen Munchen GmbH (FMG) as a way of turning a buck from excess capacity on a corporate network, as opposed to a dedicated public-access facility.

This goes part ways to explaining why the airport is retailing the services of multiple wireless ISPs, rather than letting a middleman (like BT OpenZone or Megabeam) control the operation.

Jonathan Hindle, strategic technology manager for worldwide mobile operations at Cisco Systems, said the system makes WiFi access easier for travellers by simplifying the process of going online. Travellers will pick their ISPs from a drop-down menu on the airport's portal page, as soon as a browser is fired up.

The multi-service provider hotspot, implemented with help from Deutsche Telekom Network Projects & Services GmbH, differs in terms of topology from standard public Internet access systems. Physical connectivity is through Cisco's Aironet Access Points, while Cisco's Building Broadband Service Managers ensure users do not need to change their network settings to gain access, and serve as a portal platform for free resources such as maps and flight timetables.

A Cisco 7400 Series router with a Service Selection Gateway gives users access to their chosen service provider. Each service provider's service runs off a different VLAN, which limits choice to up to 16 WISPs per location.

According to Cisco's Hindle, service providers will benefit from increased loyalty and revenues from the multi-service provider approach. He compared present WiFihot spots to the UK's famously unsuccessful Rabbit network which had no facility for incoming calls and only allowed otgoing calls from a limited number of locations, which were disguised from recognition on environmental grounds.

The multi-service provider approach is more like cell phone networks: it's simpler for users, offers more choice, and makes billing more straightforward, Cisco says. According to Cisco, service providers are already planning to use FMG's multi-service provider concept elsewhere but will the approach work outside prime locations, such as airports. Munich is Germany's second-largest commercial airport, handling 23.2 million passengers in 2002, and plans to open a second terminal this year.

Coverage for WiFi networks is more akin, so far, to Rabbit than any European cellular network.

At this month's WiFi Event in London, service providers, including Germany multinational T-Mobile, were notably cautious about the business case for widespread WiFi rollouts.

So while Cisco's aim is to allow travellers to use their home or work ISP when on the move, greatly simplifying access and billing, this is unlikely to be ubiquitous anytime soon.

Nice thought, though.

Story copyright The Register