How MyWireless can be cost-effective for your business

You're stuck in traffic and need to get a presentation through to a client, or as an IT sales specialist, you need to demonstrate to a potential client how a specific e-mail or Internet solution works while you are in their offices.

This is no longer a problem - thanks to Sentech's MyWireless Internet connection service - with the advent of mobile technology, business can be conducted from virtually anywhere. By using a PC with either a suitable USB or PCMCIA modem, mobile office and home office workers can connect to the Internet over the air, provided they are in range of transmitters in high sites situated in and around Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

Dave Stewart, Managing Director of Easy Access, one of SA's leading integrated business solution partners that provides the entire spectrum of information services, can attest to saving an estimated R400 000 in terms of operational costs.

Says Stewart about the MyWireless product: "It is easy to consider the cost benefits in terms of the improvement in quality of life, there are no traffic hassles that are experienced when on the way to work, people can work hours that suit them best. You can be in the office without having to be in the office and effectively save at least two weeks a month."

Easy Access markets IT solutions to mobile users, home office users and SMMEs, and MyWireless enables Stewart to demonstrate his service offering from virtually everywhere, provided that he is within the coverage range at that moment.

According to Stewart, the MyWireless product would especially be of interest to sales executives, especially those working in the insurance industry, who spend a considerable amount of time on the road and at clients' premises, servicing them and generating new business.

"This service provides total access to business while out of the office. There are no major relocation costs involved when moving offices, considering the hassles involved when installing new IT infrastructure," he says.

Winston Smith, portfolio manager of broadband products at Sentech, says there is an expectation, particularly among business people, that they should be able to access online resources from wherever they are - whether that be the company network, a financial Web site or their e-mail.

"Limited wireless mobile Internet connections exist in the form of some cellular technologies which is great for small devices. But executives who want high-speed access to online tools require something more powerful," he says.

"This comes in the form of broadband wireless which operates in hot zones - areas served by trans-receivers with a radius of about 5km. It's important to distinguish between broadband wireless hot zones and hotspots used by WiFi wireless connections. WiFi is not broadband and does not terminate in its own Internet connection."

So, how do you use a broadband wireless Internet connection?

"Simple - you attach a PCMCIA or USB wireless modem to the notebook PC - or other handheld mobile device. Then you connect to the Internet using one of three packages - MyWireless128, 256 or 512. The service is offered at a fixed monthly fee and we don't cap the service on usage - you can send and receive as much data as you like according to your package, for no extra charge," says Smith.

These packages are priced at R649, R849 and R1 449 respectively which means that for residential and small office users, dependant on their usage, could constitute about half the price of an average fixed-line service. There is a once-off R500 activation fee and this price package also includes the modem.

"Wireless Internet connections used to be all about compromise," says Smith. "Compromise in performance, speed and costs - which were high. Broadband wireless brings useful wireless Internet technology within reach for businesses and consumers."

"We're at a time now where an Internet connection is a given - people want to extend that to fit the way they work and if they're mobile, it means the technology has to be wireless.

"So, now, whether you're in a coffee shop in a shopping mall or waiting for a flight at the airport, you can be more productive by being online at speeds that eclipse traditional dial-up wire connections," he says.

Our vision is a pervasive broadband solution that will revolutionise the Internet the way mobile cellular phones revolutionised the fixed telephone line market.