WiFi hotspots - fixed price unlimited plans the trend
Posted on November 13, 2007
Filed Under trustive, the cloud, bt openzone, ipass, boingo, wifi hotspots |
For enterprises who have recently deployed WiFi to their laptop fleets the good news is there has been a significant move towards unlimited fixed-price WiFi plans by hotspot operators since I last did this review. As always the devil is in the details; minimum period contracts, roaming agreements, roaming charges, definitions of “unlimited” and “premium location charges” can dramatically alter any comparisons. Thus don’t read too much into the above table. A more in depth description of selected operators is provided below.
When Boingo began setting up hotspots in the 1990s, they probably thought they would become richer, faster, than they have. Free hotspots and new competitors have dampened those hopes - and eliminated competitors - but Boingo is still the largest hotspot roaming aggregator, totalling over 100,000 locations for laptops and mobile devices. The Boingo Unlimited plan costs US$21.95 a month for North America or US$39 for global unlimited access. The Boingo AsYouGo plan costs US$7.95 per 24-hour Connect Day. Boingo Mobile, for US$7.95, allows unlimited Wi-Fi access in more than 60 countries around the world.
Trustive claims to be Europe’s largest hotspot provider. Their network covers over 30,000 hotspots, connecting more than 60 European networks, including The Cloud, SFR, KPN Hotspots and Vodafone Italia, and provising service at all major airports in the European Union. Their unlimited usage service is €33 (US$48).
iPass offers a unified, secure login that makes it possible to safely connect to the corporate network (and to the Internet) in over 90 countries, from more than 90,000 Wi-Fi hotspot locations. Resellers of the iPass’s service in the US, including Sayers, iRoam Mobile Solutions, and Central House Internet, whose Individual Global Roaming Account has a US$10 setup fee, plus a US$8.95 monthly service charge, plus US$2.40 per minute. Their unlimited monthly plan for US customers costs US$58.00 per month. In the UK, iPass’s resellers include Azzurri Communications (£24.99/month), Boxing Orange, Inclarity, and Managed Security Solutions Ltd.
T-Mobile, owned by Deutsche Telekom, provides more than 45,000 hotspots worldwide. For US subscribers, that includes 7,897 T-Mobile HotSpot locations. But T-Mobile is part of the FreeMove alliance, along with Orange, TeliaSonera and Telecom Italia Mobile, so add another 37,000 roaming locations in 25 countries. But US subscribers have to pay roaming charges to use them. In the UK, T-Mobile’s 2,000 hotspots are located at major UK airports, Starbuck coffee shops, Texaco petrol stations, and Sheraton hotels. With a 12 month contract, you can get unlimited T-Mobile access for US$29.99 per month, but the price goes up if you travel outside the US.
Click on the following links for more information on the plans of AT&T, T-Mobile, BT and The Cloud.
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4 Responses to “WiFi hotspots - fixed price unlimited plans the trend”
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Hi Richard. I’ve been looking into these so-called “unlimited” plans lately, and your article has helped me in understanding the various offers currently out there. Thank you!
However, one question that I have not been able to find a straight-forward answer to is this: what does the number of “hotspots” imply?
As a (potential) consumer, I am immediately drawn to Boingo, who boast over 100000 hotspots and a reasonable priced non-corporate offer. But a few moments later, I’m looking at the locations on their website, and I can’t help but notice that the majority of their hotspots are what they call “premium” locations. Presumably access at these location are charged on top of the standard fee?
Rgds, Jon
hi Jon,
the number of hotspots should imply number of locations you can access the service from. Recently the number of roaming agreements has increased between operators… this is good for the number of hotspots, but sometimes the roaming rates are high (i.e not included in the fixed price fee). Also “premium rate” locations can also cost (my personal experience is most locations end up being premium rate!!!). So an operator with 100,000 locations will probably have a much lower % covered via the unlimited plan.
I have personally had a Boingo account. In my experience a lot of the hotspots at hotels that I stayed at where “premium rate”. This was disappointing as it meant the so called “unlimited” plan meant nothing in reality. I actually found a lot more local free Wifi hotspots than I did find from any “global operator”.
Long story short, I would suggest you try a few services as they all have their own different strong holds (i.e. UK, Europe, US). Also dont get a contract so if it doesn’t work for you then you are not locked in. Most operators have no contract plans.
Also most operator sites have a lookup database on their websites to tell you where they have service…give that a go for you favourite airports/ hotels.
Lastly if you are in Europe don’t not consider the new 3G fixed price plans…. for some people this is the WiFi killer… much better coverage and in some cases cheaper. That reminds me, I will need to do a post on this soon!
hope that helps, Richard.
Thank you for your quick reply Richard.
I will be travelling soon between London and Rome (with possibly a stop in Paris for a few days), and it appears as though Trustive has the best coverage for that route. The lookup database, as you called it, is indeed very useful, and the mapping functionality made things even easier.
One excellent item I was pleased to hear is that many of the “unlimited” plans have an easy exit clause in the contract, so I can get out if it’s a disappointment.
I haven’t investigated the 3G plans, as I don’t (yet) have a 3G laptop. I look forward to reading your opinions on that subject soon. Is that the same as wimax? Sorry, I try to keep up, but things move so fast these days!
Thanks again. Rgds, Jon
hi Jon,
glad the information helped you out.
With regards to the 3G plans, no this is not WiMAX (depending on who you talk to, WiMAX is 4G!).
The 3G plans are offered by mobile operators, usually as a USB modem. So you plug the USB modem into your USB port on your laptop and get internet access of up 7.2Mbps.
3G plans are dropping in price, but can be very expensive, especially if you are roaming. I personally have a Vodafone 3.6Mbps 3G laptop modem… coverage is consistent with locations that you can get mobile coverage. I nearly never get 3.6Mbps however… in general it is dialup speed!
For vodafone see http://www.vodafonebusinessshop.co.uk/DataWelcome.html
but check out the plans from your favourite carrier… and note the roaming charges! (for Vodafone it was up to US$20 per Mb!! yes that is not a typo, I have a bill to prove it).
There are no viable WiMAX options available for users wanting comprehensive coverage while travelling.