Hilton Hotels to Offer Wireless Web Access

Pool? Room service? How about wireless Internet access?

Beverly Hills-based Hilton Hotels Corp. will begin offering wireless Internet access early next year. A guest will be able to insert an Ethernet local-area-network card into a laptop computer, and the card will transmit data to access points in the hotel’s meeting rooms and ballrooms at speeds 10 to 50 times faster than a typical modem. The service is geared toward business users attending company gatherings and conventions, said Bruce Rosenberg, Hilton’s vice president of marketing distribution.

MobileStar Network Corp. of Richardson, Texas, will outfit more than 100 participating Hiltons for the wireless service over a two-year period. MobileStar is already installing a similar system at American Airlines terminals in airports across the country.