Switzerland is worldwide one of the countries with the most extensive coverage of public wireless local area networks (PWLANs) which are also called "hotspots". These hotspots are found in public places such as airports, hotels and railway-stations. The already established technical solutions and relatively cheap products, which are available on today?s market, continue to push the trend to a home-hotspot market. New business opportunities for hotspot-solutions appear feasible but need to be further examined and investigated.

Based on a survey with students at the university campus the investigation identified the needs of those customers and the acceptance of wireless LAN technology in the private home area. The objective of the undergraduate dissertation was, to examine this case and to find possible solutions (application, security systems and hardware) for the home market, based on existing WLAN-technology. In cooperation with a leading Swiss internet provider, we tried to figure out new fields of opportunities, applying a defined set of problems, chances and risks and to search for possible solution kits.

The work shows, that there is a defined potential for specific solution packages around the private home based WLAN area and that this business opportunity should be converted to success. IT-security factors are very important and a possible package must be able to fulfil high security standards to be accepted on this market. The billing process, the usability and a simple installation guide are important success factors as well.

The consequences of electronic radiation exposure (electro-smog) have not been sufficiently investigated or known by the users and even experts. This could become a serious problem for any WLAN solution in the private home market.

The tested package also unveiled some technical problem zones and difficulties in certain areas which could moderate the overall success of the market launch of such a solution.