Employees working in offices at UOB Plaza and Shaw House can now surf the Web and access their corporate network without wires.

Davnet last week unveiled new schemes to offer wireless Internet access to professionals and members of the public in the atrium of these buildings, or what it calls "hot spots".

The broadband service provider has plans to set up 10 more hot spots at Orchard Road, Raffles Place and Boat Quay by the end of June and in areas outside the Central Business District by August.

The initiative is part of the Cisco Internet Mobile Office (CIMO) programme, which is a Cisco Systems-led global scheme to enable places to access the Internet.

Cisco Aironet wireless LAN (local area network) base stations have been installed at UOB Plaza, Shaw House and Shaw Centre. Professionals working there need to slot Cisco Aironet wireless LAN cards - costing between $300 and $500 each - into their notebooks or WinCE-enabled personal digital assistants (PDAs) to access the Internet or their corporate network.

Similar to how cordless phones operate, these cards work as antennas that connect the mobile devices to the base stations for data transfer.

The Cisco Aironet products support a wireless standard called 802.11b, which is capable of transmission speeds at up to 11 Mbps, or 200 times faster than a typical 56 Kbps dial-up modem.

The availability of 802.11 standard could potentially delay 3G implementation because the former addresses a lot of the promises 3G has committed to, but at a more cost-effective level, said Mr Fredy Cheung, director for commercial line of business, Asia-Pacific Theatre, Cisco.

Mr Bill Chang, Cisco's managing director for Singapore, added that while the two technologies would complement each other, 802.11 standard is currently available and is more affordable.

"The inclusion of PDAs in the wireless Internet space will make the technology a powerful tool at the individual user level."

ERP obstacle
Wireless deployment in public places is facing a road block because there are fears that it may interfere with frequency signals used by the electronic road pricing (ERP) gantries.

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) requires that devices used to facilitate wireless LAN must operate between 2.445 GHz to 2.4835 GHz, and transmit power at below 100 milliwatts (mW) effective isotropically radiated power (EIRP). It refers to the power supplied to the antenna, and the power amplified by the antenna when it is attached to a power source.

Indoor use of wireless LAN does not require a licence, but companies must obtain a licence from IDA for outdoor wireless LANs.

Outdoor use of wireless technology, 802.11b, is regulated because it runs within the 2.4 GHz spectrum which is the same frequency band that ERP operates in.

The 2.4 GHz band is a global range for unlicensed use, which means that wireless devices such as microwave ovens, cordless phones and Bluetooth-enabled devices can operate without approval from regulatory bodies, explained Mr Simon Chew, senior analyst for data communications, International Data Corporation.

"In Singapore, that's a problem because the ERP occupies a space right in the middle of this spectrum, which is why IDA doesn't allow outdoor usage of wireless LAN."

From thin air
Quibbling over who gets to use the PC to surf the Web is becoming a frequent familiar situation. One father turned to techno-logy for help in resolving this problem, and installed a wireless local area network (LAN) system which allows users to connect to the Internet without phone lines.

Managing director of K & J Holdings and father to two daughters and a son, Mr Kenneth Chong, 44, purchased Cisco Systems' Aironet 340 series in March.

The wireless LAN base station is smaller than the size of a folder, and provides network connection at speeds of up to 11 Mbps. The Chong family is able to surf the Web via a notebook that is fitted with a Cisco network card. Mr Chong also slotted an additional card into his home desktop computer. The entire package, including installation and support services, costs about $1,500.

The Aironet base station supports up to 10 users simultaneously.

"I used to irk my kids when I asked them to give up the PC so that I could send an e-mail," he quipped. "Being wireless LAN-enabled means all of us can now surf at once."

He can also communicate with his employees via e-mail from anywhere within the compounds of his condominium, including the garden and swimming pool.

"It may seem like an overkill to have it at home, but you need it more here because when you're in the office, you're always at your desk. It allows you to go into another dimension to do business."

Mr Chong is considering installing a wireless network when he moves his company to its new office next year so that he does not have to get the place wired up.

"It's convenient for small and medium-sized enterprises because your wireless network can be set up in two hours," Mr Chong said.