Charleston Regional Development Alliance

Berkeley, Charleston & Dorchester Counties

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Charleston International Airport to get Wi-Fi service

Jul. 1, 2004
Charleston Post and Courier
By Sarah G. McC. Moise
The Charleston County Aviation Authority board has awarded locally-based Aerolina Inc. a $21,189 contract to install a wireless Internet network at Charleston International Airport.

“We made a decision to assist the business travelers using our facility by offering the benefit of wireless technology. It was our basis for seeking proposals,” says David Jennings of the Charleston County Aviation Authority Board and a member of the board of governors for the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“About 50 percent of the use of our terminal is business travel,” says Jennings. “With the security requirements that will be in place for the foreseeable future, people have to be in the airport longer than they did five years ago. We’re trying to make sure that the time the business traveler spends in our facility waiting to get on a plane can be used productively.”

The service sends a “we’re-serious-about-technology” message to high-tech companies contemplating doing business in the region, says Mike Clark, founder and co-owner of Aerolina. “The target population we’re trying to attract is business from out of the area, into the area.”

Intel Corp.’s annual survey of America’s top 100 “unwired” cities ranked Charleston 56th, beating Columbia, which ranked 79th, and stomping Greenville, which ranked 94th. Surprisingly, the Holy City even edged out Charlotte by one slot. In the last year, Aerolina has created 26 Wi-Fi locations or “ThinkSpots” at Charleston area hotels, restaurants, parks and public spaces as part of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce’s ThinkTEC initiative.

“Wi-Fi will be standard in a short period of time,” says Clark. “Charleston’s late getting into the game, but there are still a lot of airports that don’t have it.”

The service will be offered in all of the airport’s restaurants and snack bars, so travelers can eat a meal and surf the Internet at the same time. Presumably, some travelers might buy a second cup of coffee or eat more sandwiches while checking their e-mail.

The airport project encompasses several different spectrums of service, including public access, high-speed Internet service as well as services for the airport and its concessions; baggage check would eventually benefit from using bar codes and wireless capability. Remote communications at the administrative desk of car rental companies would allow contact with the parking lot where the cars are kept.

“We have made the decision that we will provide the wireless technology in the facility, so if any vendor wants to go wireless, they will have the ability to contract with the host provider rather than set up their own system,” says Jennings. “Our understanding is that when you have competing wireless systems, perhaps there are differences with one system stepping on another. We are trying to avoid that by contracting the host.”

Overlapping networks, such as baggage claims and passenger networks, are where wireless airports hear the most complaints.

Costs

USA Today says that more than 40 airports across the country have partnered with Wayport, T-Mobile, Concourse Communications and others companies to offer Wi-Fi services for about $6.95 to $9.95 per day. Currently the Savannah/Hilton Head airport charges $6.95 a day for wireless access. But some airports, mostly the smaller ones like the Columbia Airport, have decided that providing Wi-Fi at no charge is a better deal for travelers—as well as the airport and its image.

Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Ky., has offered free service since 2001. It competes with Louisville and Cincinnati airports, which are only about 75 miles away, so when airfares are comparable, free wireless gives business travelers one extra reason to use their airport. Offering free wireless could give Charleston a jump on Savannah and Myrtle Beach.

Currently, however, travelers to Charleston will pay the provider, Aerolina, and the authority will get 15% of whatever revenue Aerolina collects. Currently ThinkSpots operate on time increments of one hour ($2), one day ($8), one week ($15) or one month ($30). Vendors can sell preprinted cards at their locations, and users can also log in when they’re in the ThinkSpots and automatically get a screen that allows them to buy time.

Security

The December 2003 issue of PC World magazine says that hotspots are not only convenient for the user, but for hackers intent on stealing your log-in information for their own use. It can be as simple as reading over your shoulder at the latte bar. However, the good news is that the damage is minor—all the miscreant can do is use the information to obtain free wireless Internet access and make you foot the bill. Hackers can’t use your login information to get at more sensitive personal data.

“Security is always an issue even on wired connections,” argues Clark. “The only secure network connection is not to connect to one. Wireless is essentially, if you know what you’re doing, no more insecure than wired.” Encryption and different pass codes will separate the individual from the local area network, and a user in the Charleston airport won’t be able to recognize other network users.

The Charleston County Aviation Authority is charged with implementing best practices at the airport and with coordinating all of the vendors that operate out of the airport. Wireless technology has been on its wish list for at least the past year, and the new system is expected to be in place and operational within 60 days.

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