Giants go wi-fi
Andrew F. Hamm
San Francisco Giants' SBC Park will become the first stadium with wireless Internet access, team officials say.
Starting April 12 with its home opener, Giants fans will be able to access statistics, fill in an electronic scorecard and access the Internet on PDAs, laptops and tablet PCs free of charge for the entire 2004 season.
"We've created one of the largest, if not the largest, hot spot in the world," says Larry Baer, Giants executive vice president and chief operating officer.
SBC's Freedom Link wi-fi service is operating the system in conjunction with Hewlett-Packard and Intel Corp. Kosmo Studios of Orlando, Fla., is providing the sign-on page, dubbed "Giants Dugout" that will provide such services as electronic games, real-time game statistics, scores and other sports news.
Hewlett-Packard will be providing computers in all 68 Giants suites that will be wi-fi compatible.
SBC expects about 1,000 or so fans to take advantage of the service initially. There will be 121 access points located around the ballpark with the capability to handle about 15-20 users each, says John Winborn, director of the Giants information systems.
Coming in 2005 could be instant replays available on your PDAs and even Internet radio broadcasts, Mr. Winborn says. For 2004, the system will be free, but SBC plans to begin charging its standard $7.95 daily fee or $19.95 monthly fee starting in 2005, SBC officials say.
