Internet on the fly: Kiosks find their way into airports, shopping malls, hotels

As access to e-mail and the Internet continue to become an integral part of peoples' lives, Bell Atlantic and U S West are working to bring entry points to public areas.

U S West, with the installation of Internet stations at eight 7-Elevens in Seattle, started the trend three years ago in an effort to generate new revenue where pay phone use was falling. The RBOC has since veered from its original vision to target airports, hotels, college campuses and even Denver's Pepsi Center, where sports fans can access the Internet to get statistics, check game scores from across the country and chat with sports figures.

Bell Atlantic got its feet wet in the space more recently with the installation of three Internet kiosks at T.F. Green Airport in Providence, R.I., last month. The telco plans to install additional kiosks at airports in Manchester, N.H., and Portland, Maine, and will spread 20 kiosks across its footprint by the end of June.

As it enters the space, Bell Atlantic must consider several issues including the durability of its kiosks, marketing techniques and location.

The RBOC uses stainless steel sit-down enclosures that feature full-size keyboards, two small speakers and touch-screen PCs manufactured by NetNearU, said Jay Richman, product manager for Bell Atlantic. The three kiosks at Green Airport share a 384 kb/s frame relay connection provided by local ISP North Atlantic Internet. Bell Atlantic will outsource Internet service in areas where its own is not yet available.

Consumers can access the Internet with a credit card or cash. The charge is 25cents per minute with a four minute minimum.

The devices seem to be attracting "the people in motion crowd," Richman said. It is the same crowd that has made America Online, Microsoft, Nike and Yahoo! the four most-visited Web sites. "Most of the hits seem to be on the people's personal e-mail accounts," he said, but customers could launch searches from there.

Drawing users to the kiosks will be key to their survival. Bell Atlantic has placed two of the stations near an area with restaurants, and the third near the Delta Airlines gate.

Although the restaurant site is popular - it attracts users who have time to eat, have a soda or check their e-mail - the kiosk near Delta's gate isn't faring as well. "There isn't really any place for people to stop," Richman said. "If they see it, they'll use it."

Easels - provided by the airport and located at each site - explain the kiosks' purpose and have drawn some attention. "We've seen a bit of an upkick since that's been done," Richman added.

U S West uses brightly colored track loops on the computer screens in its kiosks to attract consumers, said Randy Tada, public access solutions product manager for U S West. "There's motion on the screen flipping from slide to slide, hoping to attract your attention," he said.

U S West's kiosks feature ISDN connections in most cases, but DSL is used where available. All of the company's Internet stations are powered by its own Internet service.

"The key to the kiosks is the casual availability of the Internet," said Clif Holliday, president of B&C Consulting. Even if travelers have a laptop, it's inconvenient to get to a plug. People want Internet access to check their stocks and e-mail, he said.

The airports are happy to accommodate these new stations because they are continuously looking for new ways to generate revenue, Holliday said.

"They want to build in capabilities to be a telephone company for the airport, and they want to buy services wholesale and sell them resale," he said.

The Internet stations will supplement some of the revenue airports, hotels and shopping malls are losing on the pay phone side, Tada said.