Free%20WiFi%20is%20Good%20for%20Business

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Free WiFi is Good for Business A case study of
the Austin Wireless City Project
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Case Study Austin, Texas

• Project started Oct 02
• Network launched Sep 03
• 3 hotspots in local businesses
• Handful of volunteers
• Initial stakeholders
• Austin Wireless Group
• Austin Free-Net
• EFF-Austin
• Less Networks

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Mission and Scope

• Mission and Scope debated
• To improve the quality and availability of public
  free WiFi in and around Austin.
• To help local businesses compete with for-pay
  WiFi from telephone companies and other large
  providers

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The Free WiFi Business ModelCommunity Spirit
Free Enterprise

• Success depends on venues benefiting from
  participation
• Business Model succeeds when it enables as many
  small businesses as possible to profit from it

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Needs and Desires

• For Venues low-cost commercial-style service
• Venue-branding
• Usage statistics for return on investment
• Communicate with customers
• For Users free commercial-style service
• More venue visibility
• More reliable service
• Cool features venue-to-venue chat, discussion
  forums, news and articles, hotspot finder, user
  finder
• For Community viable, sustainable free wifi
  alternative to for-pay model

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Results

• Network launched first hotspot 9/11/2003
• Today 100 networked venues and 100,000 registered
  users
• Including City Hall, State Capitol, libraries,
  and parks, franchises, and international roaming.
• 25,000 connections monthly
• Over 170 hotspots worldwide belong to network

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Municipal Wireless Project in a Box

• Attractive pricing worldwide- 99USD
• Self-Installation!
• Organic growth

• International shipping or fast, free download to
  flash wireless router
• Self-Install or optional professional basic
  installations in US metro areas (Europe installs
  soon!)

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Easy Self-Installation

• No cable runs
• No drilling or ladders
• No complex networking with existing equipment
• May require plugging into an existing wired
  router

The Internet
Wireless Laptop
Wireless Access Point
Broadband Modem
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Ad-Supported Free WiFi

• Venue branding

• Recommendations

• Nearby advertising

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EveryPage Advertising

• Local ads displayed on every page
• New ad with every page load

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Local ads from nearby shops
Detailed walking/driving directions from hotspot
to nearby advertising store
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Every Connection Pays Off
Conservatively estimating customers spend at
least 5 per visit
832,994

• So far, 156,591 customers
• (about 200 new every day)

X 5

• 832,994 wireless connections

• 4,164,970 spent in hotspots

4,164,970
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More Information

• www.lessnetworks.com
• Call US 1 408 715 6885
• UK 44 207 043 9229
• US toll-free 1 800 929 8891
• E-mail info_at_lessnetworks.com

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