Wireless ISPs (WISPs) are entrepreneurial in nature and can move quickly to capitalize on market opportunities. To date WISPs have been the early movers in the public Wi-Fi market, at least in the Americas, and are actively involved in the current Wi-Fi ‘land grab.’ In order to quickly capitalize on the Wi-Fi opportunity, WISPs need a cost-effective, end-to-end solution that will enable them to quickly enter the market, expand footprint, and achieve a rapid ROI.

Pronto Networks offers the ideal solution for WISPs. Pronto’s Hotspot Managed Services enables WISPs to operate as a “virtual WISP” during the initial build out and operational phases, while leveraging the back-office expertise of Pronto Networks. Pronto’s managed service allows WISPs to maintain control over their entire operations via a WISP portal, while offering the additional following benefits:

• Quick time-to-market
• Cost effective outsourcing during initial operational phases
• Conservation of capital expenditures
• Faster revenue generation and market share capture
• Partnership with world-class operations organization

Other key features and benefits of Pronto’s solution for WISPs are listed below:

• Rapid WLAN Rollout: Pronto’s auto-provisioning feature allows the WISP or system integrator to setup Pronto Gold Compatible WLAN equipment within minutes, not hours. No on-site configuration of the equipment is required, enabling a fast rollout of the network.
• Flexible Service Plans By Time, Volume, Session and Location: Pronto’s solution allows WISPs to establish service plans by time, volume or session. Pronto’s solution also supports subscription and prepaid plans, as well as various plans by location. For example, a WISP may want to charge a higher per day rate across all hotels than at cafes, or a higher rate at in NYC than in Dallas. Pronto’s solution enables all of these options.
• Brandable and Easily Modified Splash Page: Pronto’s platform allows for the initial splash page to be branded by the WISP as well as by the retail chain, if applicable, and venue. Other solutions often do not offer this complete control over the user interface. Pronto also supports walled garden sites, or unauthenticated free access to a select number of websites, that allow users to get more information on the WISP or services offered at that location. The images on the splash page, as well as the walled garden links, can be updated easily and frequently, allowing WISPs to modify the user interface to provide localized content to end-users.
• Revenue Share Model to Minimize Upfront Costs: Pronto’s managed services is largely based on a revenue share model. As a result, Pronto shares in the revenue only as revenue is generated. The upfront financial risk for the WISP is greatly reduced.
• Leverage Existing Infrastructure: Pronto’s broadband wireless platform is backhaul independent, enabling it to work with many high speed enabled-ATM or POS terminals which are often available at many retail locations. Adding Wi-Fi is easy and often only requires an incremental investment.
• Ability to Use All Types of Internet Connections: Pronto’s solution can be configured with static IP, DHCP or PPPoE configurations without making any modifications to the firewall. Most other solutions require static IP addresses if the WLAN equipment is deployed behind a firewall.
• Compatible with Third Party WLAN Equipment: Pronto’s solution enables WISPs to deploy their network by hanging third party access points off Pronto Service Controllers or Hotzone Gateways. This flexibility allows WISPs to use their preferred hardware to achieve broader Wi-Fi coverage at a location.
• WISP Portal and Standard Reports: Pronto’s solution provides a web-based WISP portal which enables the WISP to monitor its Wi-Fi network and review standard revenue, service and roaming settlement reports. The portal provides WISPs a complete tool for managing their business.
• 24x7 Network Management and Automatic Upgrades: Pronto’s managed services provides 24 x7 network monitoring as well as periodic firmware upgrades of WLAN equipment. Pronto’s managed services guarantees 95% network availability, assuming no backhaul issues, and sends automatic email alerts in the rare instance a location becomes unavailable.
• 24x Customer Support: Pronto’s managed services offers 24x7 toll-free and online support to end-users, location owners and WISPs, allowing the WISP to focus on its primary goal of growing the business.

The public Wi-Fi market opportunity is here today, and those operators that are able to quickly capitalize on the opportunity will benefit in the long run. Pronto’s Hotspot Managed Services allows WISPs to quickly and cost-effectively enter the market, while leaving all back-office operations to Pronto. Pronto also provides the option of transferring all back-office operations to the WISP once the WISP’s network has reached a critical mass of locations, if desired.