THE WIRELESS WORLD

Auckland is famous for sailing, aquariums, Maori culture and dinosaur skeletons. But wireless Internet access? In most cities around the world, connecting to the Internet means scoping out a Wi-Fi hotspot and sitting with your laptop in one place, or surfing the Net at slower speeds over a small, pocket-size phone with an uncomfortably tiny screen. Six months ago, Auckland became one of a few communities to deploy a single high-speed wireless network that blankets the entire city. Users can surf the Net at high speeds from the beach, their office, their homes or even a moving bus.

Upstart telecom firm Woosh Wireless developed the network. The four-year-old startup has challenged the city's entrenched land-line telco by installing three powerful wireless base stations around town. "Our vision is that in any corner of the city you can open your laptop and get megabit speed," says Jon Hambidge of IP Wireless in San Bruno, Calif., which provides Whoosh with the equipment.

Never Be Outstripped
LAS VEGAS, NEV.
Population: 515,000
Why: Phone, cable cos. can't match demand
Fact: Sin City has only four hotspots per 100,000 people--but the number is rising quickly

Even inveterate gamblers need to check their e-mail once in a while. Hotels on the Strip like the Rio, Circus Circus and MGM Grand are joining the worldwide wave of hotels offering guests Wi-Fi access in their rooms, usually for a daily fee of about $10. Dozens of cafes, Subway stores and Panera Bread bakeries will let you log on while you munch. And chances are, if you're visiting Vegas for one of its many industry confabs, some enterprising company has turned the country's busiest convention center into a free Wi-Fi hotspot. Perfect for blogging during boring presentations.

Like many cities with exploding population growth, Vegas is outrunning some of its utilities. You've probably read about the water shortages. Now Sprint and Cox cable can't keep up with demand for Internet access. So local start-ups like Verde Communications are trying to plug the gap with wireless access. Verde's clients include the food court in the MGM Showcase mall, a bunch of neighborhood restaurants and, most interestingly, many of the city's recreational-vehicle parks. One, the Hitchin' Post RV Park and Motel, which opened in 1970, uses Verde's Wi-Fi technology to hook up its peripatetic residents for $36 a month. "It's a huge asset that drives customers to my property," says manager Brent Childress. It's not, however, much of a moneymaker. Verde divides the revenues with clients based on how much they contribute to building the network. Childress says Wi-Fi "brings in a little bit, but probably not enough to pay the tire bill."

For a Safer England
LONDON, ENGLAND
Population: 7.4 million
Why: Crimefighting enters the wireless era
Fact: Soon, cops will watch over their entire stomping grounds on laptops and PDAs