Hotspot reality check: take it from a road warrior: Wi-Fi hotspot availability is far from ubiquitous.

I'M ALWAYS ON THE ROAD. Whether visiting key companies, attending events including our ADVISOR conferences and seminars, or attempting to run a company and have a life, mobile business and a mobile lifestyle are mandatory. From huge bolted-in car phones, to the pioneering TRS-80 Model 100 laptop, to today's tiny, mighty devices, I'm constantly trying new mobile gear and services. My car has more power cords than most houses. My home and office are Wi-Fi saturated, and I carry an access point in my car, "just in case." I have a combination phone+PDA on my belt, and use three laptops plus several desk'top PCs. I do mobile business literally around the world, and you might benefit from what I learn.

In this new column, I'll share discoveries, info, and practices for mobile work and play. My goal is to help you choose, use, and succeed, by evaluating what's real and reasonable right now. A truly mobile life is just over the next hill--let's get there!

Mobile Internet 

Wi-Fi everywhere would be wonderful. I've been intrigued by the new T-Mobile Hotspot service (http://t-mobile.com/hotspot). The company claims the world's largest public 802.11b Wi-Fi network, in more than 2,000 Starbucks, plus Borders bookstores, airport terminals, airline clubs, and T-Mobile retail stores--2,353 U.S. locations as of this writing. You get unlimited access at all locations for US$30 per month. My first reaction: Sign me up!

Then I contemplated my normal travel patterns and upcoming trips. 2,353 seems like a lot of T-Mobile Hotspot locations, but on investigating I learned they are in just 24 states plus DC. You won't find a T-Mobile Hotspot in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, or Wyoming. And you have to get specific in the states where T-Mobile has Hotspots. You can't just look for a Starbucks; the Las Vegas area has them on every other corner, but the only Hotspot service in all of Nevada is at one T-Mobile retail store. Utah has service only at the Salt Lake City airport and one T-Mobile store. Kentucky has service only at the Louisville airport. North Carolina has service only at two airports. Minnesota has service at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport and one T-Mobile store. You get the idea.

In some states, certain major metro areas appear to be saturated, but even this requires a closer look. In California, I find T-Mobile Hotspot service in almost every standalone Starbucks. In my small San Diego neighborhood, two Starbucks a few blocks apart both have Hotspot service. But my third neighborhood Starbucks is in a grocery store and lacks a Hotspot. in fact, there are large chunks of every T-Mobile city and state without coverage, mainly where Starbucks doesn't have locations, and where Starbucks is within another business such as a store or hotel. Unfortunately, my upcoming out-of-California trips aren't to concentrations of T-Mobile Hotspots, and my in-state trips go through hundreds of miles where there's no service either.

You'll find other Wi-Fi hotspot services and prices. Boingo Wireless offers $50/month unlimited for service in hundreds of hotels and restaurants (httpJlboingo.com). STSN, a leading provider of guest room Internet access in more than 450 hotels, is installing hotspots in hotel common areas (http:llstsn.com). I encountered STSN iBAHN Wireless High-Speed Internet Access in the lobby of a major resort in Phoenix, a town with a zillion Starbucks but none with T-Mobile Hotspot service. (One suburban Phoenix phone store and one airline club are the only T-Mobile Hotspots in all of Arizona.) I didn't find STSN's hotspot price attractive, $2.95 for 15 minutes, then 25 cents per minute. In contrast, T-Mobile sells walk-up service at 10 cents a minute with a 60-minute minimum. Boingo sells a whole day for $7.95.

Challenging Boingo, STSN, and T-Mobile is a new major player--at least in press releases. Started by AT&T, IBM, Intel, Apax and 31, Cometa Networks promises 20,000 hotspots in the 50 largest metro areas of the U.S. at prices unknown (http://cometanetworks.com).

One early Cometa customer is an especially good value. At 10 McDonalds in Manhattan, buy an Extra Value Meal and get one hour online free. Or buy one hour for $3-5 cents a minute. If McDonalds broadly expands this cheapest-yet commercial service, it will put pressure on hotspot providers to adjust their prices--possibly all the way to "free."

It's possible that competitive pressures will lead to Wi-Fi hotspots being free to patrons of a business, users of a library, visitors to a park, passengers on a flight, or (my favorite) loungers on a beach. Considering the many free amenities that businesses feel are necessary to attract and please customers, why not put Wi-Fi service in the same category as chairs, napkins, water, lights, background music, and an appealing atmosphere?

My biggest wish is for fast Internet access from anywhere, including my moving car. While Wi-Fi coverage can be stretched via directional antennas, the vast majority of hotspots cover just a hundred feet or so. Wide-area networking is still in the hands of the mobile phone carriers who own all those roadside and hilltop towers. Unfortunately their technology and business realities yield much slower data speeds at much higher prices. I'll look at them in future columns.

Do you need a reality check on something in the mobile business and lifestyle world? I welcome your feedback and questions, as well as input from the technology providers. Write me at [e-mail]. And see expanded columns and get updates at http://MobileBusinessAdvisor.com/HawkTrek. Happy landings!