The ‘Waypoint’ is coming to town

The phone booth of the future is coming to town.

But like most devices that crossed over to the digital platform, it doesn’t look like a phone booth at all. With full desktop PC function, Internet connectivity, full audio and 15" LCD screen, it is more of an Internet kiosk that looks slightly slimmer than an ATM machine.

But make no mistake about it, it does allow you to make calls. That is, through the peer-to-peer voice service popularized over the Internet by Skype.

Through a USB headphone, you can use the booth’s Internet connectivity to use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications and call relatives or friends anywhere in the world for free. That is, if they are also Skype users and online at the time of the call. If not, VoIP calls to regular telephone lines and mobile phones are also possible for fee.

Mobile phones and rich media Internet applications such as VoIP, messenger systems, chatrooms and e-mail have changed almost overnight the way we communicate with other people and pushed the old coin- or card-based phone booths almost to oblivion.

In its place came the home and office computer and of late mobile gadgets such as notebook PCs, PDAs, BlackBerry’s and smart phones. Internet cafés have also sprouted in inner city streets to serve those who do not own such gadgets.

But this is the first time that an Internet kiosk-cum-phone booth will be stationed in malls or public spaces to cater to the expanded needs of the Internet populace.

Perhaps, it is an idea whose time has come.

With people getting used to Wi-Fi access in cafés, restaurants, bars, airports, hotels and resorts, and with the country’s biggest Wi-Fi network operator having deployed 270 hot spots in 35 cities and 12 cities across the country, wireless connectivity to the Internet is getting popular.

Airborne Access’ vision of the future Internet as wireless, personal and broadband is also fast taking off.

In fact, these are the factors that have allowed our futuristic phone booth to debut in the public space this month.

Airborne Access CEO Jay Fajardo said similar products have been launched and tested in the past but wired Internet connectivity always pose a problem for installing portable Internet booths in public places, much more so in wide, open spaces.

But with Wi-Fi now on its way to blanketing the metropolis, all one needs to deploy Airborne Access’ phone booth of the future, dubbed Waypoint, is a power outlet.

Pedestrian broadband

Airborne Access has spearheaded the growth of Wi-Fi in the Philippines in 2001. Since then, Fajardo said 24,000 people had used their wireless Internet service to date and still growing. The target is 500 Wi-Fi hot spots before the year ends, including increased presence in the Visayas and Mindanao, Fajardo said.

Wi-Fi is short for Wireless Fidelity, which is a set of standards that enable mobile computers and other gadgets to connect to the Internet wirelessly.

Initially offered in small, fixed locations such as coffee shops or restaurants, Wi-Fi hot spots are increasingly venturing into wider areas of coverage, including shopping malls.

Very soon, the whole of Eastwood City, one of the country’s first fully integrated and self-contained urban centers, will be a Wi-Fi hot spot zone.

As it is now, if you have a laptop computer and is sitting in a coffee shop or a mall with a Wi-Fi hot spot, you can connect to the Internet using an Airborne Access prepaid card.

That is the same as using an Internet prepaid card at home on a desktop PC but minus the hassle of having to hook to a telephone line and a modem.

In a press conference, Fajardo said Waypoint is envisioned to further expand the market for Wi-Fi in the country. What it calls the "pedestrian broadband" is meant to replicate the success of Internet cafés in offering Web services to those who do not have the necessary gadgets to participate in the mobile digital life.

The difference, however, is that Waypoint stations offer wireless broadband Internet connection for people on the go.

There is still a bit of the communal space in Internet cafés as people sit side by side and facing each other in rows of PC stations, sometimes playing network games together for hours.

But our 21st century phone and Internet booth is for fast transactions. You need to call a friend overseas, check and leave a voice mail, send and receive an e-mail, check a product or a merchandise you need to get from the supermarket, the facility is there in the mall corridors. You don’t stay for hours, but you deal with it quickly, like the way you transact with an ATM machine.

Fajardo said the initial target is 10 Waypoint stations in Metro Manila’s leading malls. Additional deployment will depend largely on the public response.

But Airborne Access executives insist that Waypoint is not only for the benefit of the malling public. Mall owners or restaurant operators can benefit from having one in their premises.

For one, it can function as an advertising medium.

Because a Waypoint station has full desktop PC function with full audio, it can welcome visitors to the location highlighting its facilities, new attractions and special events. Using an animated character, which can be customized to the establishment, it can also point to directions, answer queries, endorse products or deliver advertising messages.

When placed inside a coffee shop, hotel lounge or restaurant, the website of the establishment can be the default page of the Waypoint screen so that customers can obtain more info on the place.

Wi-Fi everywhere

As it is now, Wi-Fi is getting ubiquitous. You may be using Wi-Fi without you knowing it. This is because Airborne Access has partnered with Internet and telecom companies to further propagate its service.

Fajardo said the company provides the Wi-Fi component of PLDT’s We Roam service, SkyDSL, Bayantel’s Bl@st, iManila and Subic Telecom.

When you buy a Bl@st Internet prepaid card, for example, you can now use it two ways – as a standard Internet prepaid card at home or in other fixed locations or on the road in a Wi-Fi-enabled laptop.

In the same way, Fajardo said iManila Internet subscribers can now use their Internet subscriptions while on the road using Airborne Access’ Wi-Fi network. Subic Telecom has likewise bundled Airborne’s Wi-Fi offerings with its standard DSL service.

The success of Airborne’s local wireless broadband service has also allowed the company to export the technology and its business model to other countries – Nigeria and Thailand in particular.

By the end of the month, Airborne Access will have five hot spots in Nigeria and three in Thailand.

Fajardo said this overseas venture is complemented by the launch of its Aviator Prepaid Global Roaming Wi-Fi card, which he claims can allow users to surf in Wi-Fi hot spots in over 5,000 locations in 49 countries.

In a press statement, Airborne Access said this service was made possible with its tie-up with Trustive, a European Internet wholesaler.

Now sold at $6, the Aviator card promises wireless, broadband Internet connectivity for 30 minutes in prime locations and 60 minutes in standard locations.

Like the company’s Wingspan local Wi-Fi prepaid card, Aviator will be made available at Airborne hot spots and selected dealers.