Want a safe place to stop while you're out in the field so you can download listings for your client over a cup of joe? Starbucks is making it easy, safe and comfortable for Realtors to use the company's new wireless network to operate their PDA's and laptops so they can work more productively while enjoying their espresso.

Brady Brewer, marketing manager for Starbucks Interactive, says that Starbucks is providing the locations for high speed Internet antennas at more than 2,100 Starbucks locations across the nation.

"All Realtors have to do is click-through this link, and it takes them to a page on our Website to what the service is and what they need to do to get connected," says Brewer.

Starbucks in the wireless business? It makes more sense when you consider who their strategic partners are - Hewlett-Packard and T-Mobile.

First, you get connected by signing up for T-Mobile HotSpot high-speed wireless Internet service. And if you don't have a hand-held, get the new HP iPAQ 5450 Pocket PC with "Wi-Fi" Internet capabilities.

"You can e-mail your clients, access the latest Multiple Listing Service (MLS) updates, or check in with the home office – all while enjoying connection speeds up to 50 times faster than with a dial-up Internet connection," says Brewer.

What makes this triumverate's new offerings impressive is that currently there are few means that Realtors have to effectively download data such as information-intensive listings wirelessly.

"High-speed Internet access means you can get some text information on a home, or receive and send basic e-mails," explains Brewer, "but how the Starbucks solution is different is that we offer Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi is a new technology that is rapidly gaining acceptance among mobile profesionals. It provides very high-speed Internet connections - the highest possible connection speed, and it is faster than DSL, or cable or any other readily avaialbe Internet connection. The reason is, it is based on a T1 connection, and we have one of those in every store. It allows us to provide that bandwidth to our customers without Wi-Fi.

"A Realtor comes in with a wireless enabled laptop or a PDA equipped with a Wi-Fi or a wireless card," he continues. "If they have a wireless card installed on their computer or it came with one, all they do is go into a connected Starbucks store, they open their laptop, their browser, and up pops a page that shows a user name and password that they use to log on, and if they were not already a subscriber, they can use the free trial, and try it."

(Editor's note: A 802.11b wireless card is what you would pick up at your nearest electronics store or order from the Internet)

The cost, says Brewer, is 10 cents a minute or an unlimited annual fee is $29 a month, and other pricing plans are available at Starbucks.com/real-estate.

In addition to a free trial, Hewlett-Packard is offereing a bundle with T-Mobile. "Realtors get $50 off if they purchase that, and it has built-in Wi-Fi technology.

Why all the special treatment for Realtors?

"We found when we launched the service," replies Brewer, that the real estate industry surprised us with how much interest there was; it was because they are independent contractors. In order to be successful, they need to be out of the office. This service fit right in with where they were. If they need to get somewhere to post digital pictures online, or or meet a client at Starbucks and review listings, they can do that easily.

What about agents who already have wireless services with other providers?

"A lot of agents are subscribing to wireless networks that are part of cellphone plans or cellphone networks and exmaples would be Air Cards which enables them to connect to the Internet," says Brewer.

"But," he cautions, "while touted as high speed, it is nowhere as fast as this. If you need to answer an e-mail on the side of the road, that's fine. But for rich applications like uploading and downloading pictures, or accessing new home listings with photos, downloading or e-mailing contracts or other documents, or simply meeting in a Starbucks with a client and reveiwing rich listing information over a cup of coffee, this is better. There are diferent technologies for different needs, but this just fills a void. This is another way to connect for people who want to be more productive."

Since Starbucks Interactive launched in August with 1,600 stores, it has grown its network to 2,100 stores out of about about 3,500 U.S. stores nationwide. To find out if your favorite Starbucks location is wired, click here.

Published: April 8, 2003

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