News

BT sneaks into the home wireless LAN supply market

Ever so gently and quietly, BT has decided to nudge its users of both home and business ADSL broadband Internet into wireless networking.

It has (just barely) launched its own wireless networking products which it is selling off the BTOpenworld web site, through Global Direct, and much to everybody's surprise, at keen prices, starting well under £200 for a two-PC starter pack.

But you'd be in the majority if you had to admit: "I never knew they were selling wireless network cards!" - almost nobody has noticed. The Openworld web site started selling them on November 19th, and since then, fewer than 200 packages have been sold to unusually keen-eyed customers.

"We're evaluating customer reaction before deciding on our marketing plans," said product manager Craig Thomson at BTOpenworld, talking to the Mobile Campaign this week.

BT evaluated 19 different potential suppliers, before settling on the Linksys devices. The only important changes made to the products were in the documentation, with the objective of making installation easier.

"We're aiming this at users of our ADSL products," said Thomson. "For the home users with the green 'frog' Alcatel DSL modem, we offer a package including instructions to set up Internet Connection Sharing on a Windows computer, and we recommend sharing the Internet with up to four users - we'll support that."

This system would be regarded as pretty amateur by the more serious network user; it doesn't have a central wireless hub or access point. Instead, it sets up a peer-to-peer network with all the workstations. Experienced network engineers regard this as error prone. One machine must always be switched on to avoid configuration problems.

A better deal, intended for business users (who get the old Fujitsu (now Efficient) modem) is the more expensive two-user system. At £297.02 (ex VAT)- this is a more reliable system which includes a central access point. Considering that some providers will charge more than this price for just the access point, this package, including two notebook network cards, is competitive.

The access point isn't a bottom-range one; it's capable of load balancing on a larger site where there has to be more than one access point, and allows users to roam around the site, automatically switching from one transmitter to another.

Another attractive feature of the Linksys package is the availability of USB-based wireless network adapters that can be plugged into desktop PCs. Most wireless systems are aimed at portable notebook PCs; but Thomson said that there was clear demand for moveable networking for desktop PCs.

"We're finding that in small businesses and home offices, people are often having to rearrange their offices, or move their desks; and re-wiring the building with Ethernet cable isn't a sensible option.

The Mobile Campaign will review the BT offering in a future bulletin. In particular, we'll be looking at the suitability of these products for cable modem users, and making sure that domestic "green frog" ADSL connections can be made to work with the full access point package, as well as with the cheaper, peer-to-peer package being packaged for home users.

Full pricing and availability details are available on BTOpenworld's site through Global Direct.