Boise firm sets its sights on marketing wi-fi in remote areas

You´re sitting by the campfire, roasting marshmallows and enjoying the wilderness, when you have a sudden urge to … surf the Web.

Julie Howard
The Idaho Statesman

Sound silly?

You´d be surprised. Camper surveys rank Internet access as a highly desirable feature — saying it´s just as important as pull-through sites and laundry facilities.

A new Boise firm, NomadISP, http://www.nomadisp.com/modules/maininfo/ plans to spin that growing need into a business that provides wi-fi access areas — called hot spots — to remote recreation areas throughout the country.

Launched this year by Kelly Hogan, who is also a founder and CEO of another Boise tech company, LinOra Corp., NomadISP is focusing on demonstration and sales and expects to sell its first units by the first of the year. The company´s equipment will receive signals from a satellite and create a range where wireless Internet access is available — a technology known as 802.11b or wi-fi.

“The technology is to the point where we can just put a box on a pole somewhere — and even camouflage it if needed,” said Hogan, who will start running ads nationally next month in a catalogue targeted at campground owners and park managers.

Separate repeaters can be added that broadcast the signal to a wider area, meaning entire campgrounds could go wi-fi.

“It´s not just for surfing the Web,” said Hogan. “If you live out of your RV, you can use it for your banking or conducting business. There´s a growing number of people who are doing this.”

Time magazine documented the trend in an article published last week, reporting that of the 7 million households with RVs, 16 percent access the Internet on the road even though most campgrounds don´t offer wireless access.

Idaho Parks and Recreation is exploring the possibility of installing wi-fi at Bruneau Sand Dunes State Park, located in a remote area just outside of Mountain Home.

By doing that, the park would leapfrog installing basic phone lines — which aren´t available inside the park — and go directly to high-speed wireless, at a significant savings, said Wes Whitworth, campground manager for Bruneau State Park.

“The last quote we got to put land lines for phone service out there was about $40,000,” said Whitworth. “And that still wouldn´t give us high-speed capabilities.”

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NomadISP

3100 N Lake Harbor Ln. Suite 116

Boise, Idaho 83703

Voice: 1-877-254-6672 – Email: [email protected]

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Installing wi-fi at the park would allow the park´s observatory to broadcast pictures of the night sky to classrooms throughout the state, Whitworth said.

“We have the resources, the classrooms have the students, but right now we have no way of getting it to the students,” he said.

Serving 21st century campers staying in the park is another issue.

“They come up to the office and want to tap into our phone line now,” Whitworth said. “The demand is there. Our visitors are becoming more techie. More and more customers coming through want to hook up to the Internet, and if we can help them do that, they´ll stay in our park longer.”

The state parks will continue testing NomadISP´s technology next month in McCall at Ponderosa State Park, said Hogan, who says the technology will work anywhere in North America. And he sees that as his market.

“There are 15,000 to 20,000 campgrounds in the United States and about 150 have wi-fi,” he said, adding that the potential is there to sell his product to ski resorts and other remote recreation spots. “There´s a huge market,” he said.

Ironically, NomadISP was born out of the inability of Hogan´s other company, which is on Lake Harbor Lane in Boise, to get high-speed internet access in its urban location. With LinOra being a technology company, the firm decided to solve the problem by exploring wi-fi, and the idea of offering the technology to remote areas was born.

The new privately funded company has three dedicated full-time employees, with four other LinOra employees also working part time on the project.

To offer story ideas or comments, contact Julie Howard
[email protected] or 373-6618

http://www.idahostatesman.com/Business/story.asp?ID=54010