Restaurant offers customers wireless Internet service

One local 'hot spot' is charging for Internet access, but another isn't.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
BOARDMAN -- Web surfers now have places away from home to plug into the Internet, and they can do it without a plug.
Buffalo Wild Wings in the Southern Park Mall has installed equipment to allow people with laptop computers to access the Internet for free through a wireless connection.
Called "hot spots," such locations have been sprouting up around the country.
"We think it will give someone an extra reason to grab a beer or come here for lunch," said Jason Kather, general manager of the Boardman restaurant.
Another hot spot is at Borders Books in Niles, which added the technology a month ago.
"We've had quite a few people using it," said Billy Griffith, store general manager.
One traveler got off the Ohio Turnpike and came to the store just so he could log onto the Internet, he said.
Borders is installing the service nationwide through T-Mobile, a national provider of wireless services. The fees for users are $6 an hour, $10 a day or $30 a month with a 12-month commitment.
Free at restaurant
At Buffalo Wild Wings in Boardman, the service is free -- at least for now.
The restaurant is teaming with Broadband Hospitality, a Boardman company that installs Internet access in hotels across the country, to offer the service on a trial basis.
Broadband Hospitality is trying to line up companies to advertise on the system to keep the service free. Service began two weeks ago and soon will be marketed with banners in the restaurant.
"We're throwing it out there, and we'll see if it works," said Vince Lucci, Broadband Hospitality president.
He thinks it's a great fit for his company, which already has installed hot spots at about 30 hotels. The hotels offer the service to guests for free.
Broadband Hospitality also provides high-speed Internet connections to individual hotel rooms at 145 hotels.
Once the restaurant hot spot is well established, Lucci plans to take the concept to other locations in the mall and other retailers. He hopes more Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants will become his clients.
Web cams possible
Kather said he'd like to see Web cams installed so people in different restaurants could talk to each other. He said such a system would fit well with the trivia game that allows customers in different Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants to compete against one another.
Kather said he's considering adding laptops that customers could rent while they are at the restaurant. Lucci said he has developed a mobile case for the laptops that would protect them from drinks that are spilled.
Users can connect to the Internet from anywhere in the restaurant and move the laptops around while they are connected. The laptop must have a wireless access card, however.
Lucci said the restaurant's signal reaches out to the patio and a little bit into the mall hallway but not to any other stores in the mall.
Equipment to receive and transmit wireless signals was installed into the restaurant ceiling. A cable connects that equipment to a DSL line, which provides a broadband connection to the Internet.
Broadband Hospitality also has installed an Internet terminal that allows users to access the Internet without a laptop. The charge to use the terminal is 20 cents a minute and helps to pay for the wireless service, Lucci said.
shilling@vindy.com