Wireless access may be the talk of the town (again) for high-tech members, but it will be a
That is according to Brian Siegel, e-commerce manager and Sam Sandhu, vice president of information technology
"Wireless fidelity technology is very hot for consumers," Siegel said. "But right now WiFi is about convenience
Wireless fidelity, or "WiFi," relays Internet and other network connections via radio waves, allowing people to surf
"The great thing about WiFi is that there is nothing the credit union needs to do to support it," Siegel said. "The
Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Cornerstone Advisors recently predicted that although WiFi has been hibernating for the past
In part, that's because self-service products such as bill pay or e-statements may be more valuable if they are
The caveats for CU e-commerce: Public wireless networks, or "hotspots" are limited in number and are only
And while the e-commerce side of the WiFi financial services market looks like a distant horizon, a WiFi operations
"Wescom is not planning to use wireless networking right now," Sandhu said. He said that doing business with good,
"Our network is so complex and our only link to the outside world is two, highly-guarded Internet connections,"
The 25-branch CU relies on redundant mixtures of broadband and dial-in connections; voice, video and data feeds;
"If we put in a wireless network, we bypass all that security we put in place," he explained. "WiFi is secure
Wescom's 200,000 members certainly haven't snuggled up to WiFi. In the year that Wescom offered wireless
"I think it failed because it couldn't deliver on its promise of making access easier," Siegel explained. "Given slow
Despite WiFi's rocky history, manufacturers and many financial institutions aren't giving up. Hotspot proliferation
Said Siegel: "I do think that it's just a matter of time before members can be searching our Web site, making