Hilton Hotels & Resorts plans to install high-speed wireless Internet access at nearly 50 Hilton-brand hotels and resorts in major metropolitan areas throughout North America within the next 30 days as the first stage in what’s expected to be a rollout of high-speed Internet access at 230 Hilton properties across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico in the months ahead.
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The wireless Internet access points will be located in hotel lobbies, lounges, restaurants, and public areas, according to Robert E. Dirks, Hilton’s senior vice president of brand management and marketing. It will complement the existing high-speed wired Internet infrastructure already available in guest rooms at these Hilton hotels, he added.
A spokesperson for Hilton Hotels Corp. told MacCentral that the company is still determining access charges for the new service. Details should be available in the coming days or weeks.
Hilton and Intel are collaborating on a marketing campaign to drive awareness of Wi-Fi hotspots, where wireless LAN capable notebook computer users can connect to the Internet and corporate networks wirelessly. Hilton said the high-speed Internet service will be fully compatible with Mac, Unix, and Linux systems, as well as Windows machines, tablet PCs, and PDAs. Signage will be located in the Hilton hotel public areas that identifies where wireless high-speed Internet access points are available.
Wi-Fi devices use the IEEE 802.11b standard, better known to Mac users as AirPort. Apple’s new AirPort Extreme technology is based on the IEEE 802.11g draft specification, but AirPort Extreme cards are backwards compatible with 802.11b devices.
Updated with information about the service’s access charges.