The outbreak of Wi-Fi services seen in many parts of the world is also taking place in the Philippines.

Suddenly, it’s no longer just the upscale hotels and coffee shops in the metropolis where Wi-Fi connection is available. From Basco in Batanes to Bonggao in Tawi-Tawi, one can now expect to find a Wi-Fi hot spot, thanks to the ongoing race among telecom companies to unwire the whole country and turn it into one huge Wi-Fi hot spot.

Wi-Fi means wireless fidelity, a technology that uses radio waves to connect notebook computers and personal digital assistants to the Internet without cables, at least within 200 meters of a wireless access point. Its higher version called WiMax can reach as far as several kilometers.

A hot spot, on the other hand, is any public place with wireless Internet service accessible through the use of Wi-Fi technology.

As Wi-Fi defies the physical and distance barriers to connect to the Internet, people are now getting used to the idea of surfing the Internet even in places where it was impossible before like on the beaches of Boracay.

For the longest time, the Wi-Fi band was exclusively used by the Manila Electric Co., which had the license to use the designated frequency to remotely operate and manage its electrical infrastructure in Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Southern Luzon. It was only in 2003 when the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) freed the use of the 2.4-gigahertz frequency band in these regions that Wi-Fi hot spots began to emerge.

The result was a mad scramble among telecom companies and value-added service providers to make Wi-Fi a commercial service. Per NTC’s regulations, private groups can set up Wi-Fi networks only for indoor and non-profit use, while those who wish to offer it as a commercial service are first required to get a license. New players, however, are contesting the license scheme, which, they believe, doesn’t help bring Wi-Fi to far-flung places where it’s needed most. Connect now, not later
But the big players are not waiting for the lingering legal issues to be resolved.

Already, Smart Communications has built a thousand Wi-Fi sites in key cities around the country as of the second quarter of 2005. It’s a rollout that has successfully established Wi-Fi connection from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi.

Innove Communications Inc., a fully owned subsidiary of Globe Telecom, through its corporate voice and data arm, GlobeQuest, likewise boasted of an extensive Wi-Fi network of over 1,000 hot spots by the end of July this year. In Manila, 30 more wireless access points were to be put up within the third quarter of 2005, to be followed by more Wi-Fi hot spots in Northern Luzon and the Visayas. In addition, it was Innove’s Globelines that made the island of Boracay even more hip by converting it into a wireless broadband zone with 30 wireless access points to support about 150 commercial establishments.

Telcos don’t just build Wi-Fi hot spots, they create Wi-Fi zones that extend the 200-meter coverage to easily 1.5 kilometers or even farther using their cell sites.

In fact, it’s exactly how Innove named its service – WIZ for Wireless Internet Zone. Although its radius is limited to within 200 meters of its access points, WIZ boasts of a connection speed that’s 50 times faster than dial-ups for only P2 per minute.

WIZ is present inside Ayala Malls in Makati and Alabang as well as the Discovery Mall in Lahug, Cebu City. Innove executives said it’s the first time that an entire mall and not just select shops in the mall has become a full Wi-Fi zone.

GlobeQuest also has a growing list of Wi-Fi enabled hotels, restaurants, residential buildings, sports centers, trade facilities and business clubs across the country. It has also extended its Wi-Fi infrastructure to key transport terminals such as the Davao and Mactan International Airports and the SuperCat terminal at Pier 4 in Cebu City.

In the case of Smart, it offers a fixed wireless broadband service that is twice as fast as dial-up. It involves the use of an outdoor Wi-Fi antenna aligned to a Smart cell site (with a clear line of sight) to which a consumer’s laptop will connect. A subscription costs P988 a month.

On top of its massive domestic Wi-Fi base stations that span easily from Region 1 to 12, Smart has also aggressively expanded its Wi-Fi reach abroad. Through the efforts of its sister-company, ePLDT, Smart has gained access to over 18,700 Wi-Fi hot spots in selected Southeast Asian countries and in North America.

ePLDT, a member of the international Wireless Broadband Alliance, has partnerships with operators Maxis Malaysia, Starhub, Hong Kong CSL, T-Mobile USA and NTT Communications to offer Wi-Fi global roaming. This means that Smart and PLDT Group subs-cribers can enjoy Internet roaming services abroad.

Meanwhile, Smart’s subsi-diary, Meridian Telekoms Inc., has earmarked P2 billion for a nationwide broadband wireless access infrastructure to cater to the growing high-speed data market. In-flight wireless Internet
Today, it’s not just islands that are being virtually sewn into one by Wi-Fi technology. The skies have been conquered, too.

Even at an altitude of 27,000 feet or higher, travelers can now connect to the Internet if their flight happens to use one of the 70 planes with Connexion by Boeing, which so far is the world’s only high-speed wireless Internet, data and entertainment connectivity service for commercial airlines.

This marks a great departure from the long-established norms of air travel, which limit laptop usage to offline mode. Today, more than 100 daily flights worldwide on Lufthansa Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, Japan Airlines, ANA, Singapore Airlines and China Airlines have Connexion by Boeing service so their passengers can now surf while they fly.

A business unit of Boeing, Connexion by Boeing has agreements in place with more than 600 corporations worldwide and has established wireless roaming agreements with 17 associate service providers.

Through these agreements, travelers are able to connect through an established account with Connexion by Boeing, or use the roaming platforms of their existing wireless providers to further simplify their modes of payment.

The cost per flight for most international routes is $29.95, with a lower rate of $19.95 for flights of less than six hours. A pay-per-minute option includes a 60-minute starter package priced at $9.95, with rates of $0.25 per minute thereafter.

Connexion by Boeing has made the in-flight hot spot service possible in partnership with Intel Corp. The two companies have successfully completed compatibility testing with common Intel Centrino mobile technology-based laptop configurations, making Connexion by Boeing the first in-flight Internet service to be verified through Intel’s Wireless Verification Program.