iPass launches hot spot service for consumers

Keith Shaw — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:56:50 -0400

It's another trip for me, this time I'm jetting off to Las Vegas for the annual CTIA Wireless show, which focuses a lot on the cellular phone industry. I'm expecting to see a lot of new mobile devices, gadgets, accessories and other wireless goodies at the show. One new service I'm testing on this trip is the iPassConnect Mobility service, which was announced this morning from iPass. The company, which has focused its services on enterprise customers for a long time, is now adding a service aimed aimed at consumers and SMBs to allow them to connect at different wireless hot spots, wired Ethernet locations (including hotels) and even dial-up access for where high-speed Internet access doesn't exist. The service I'm using also comes with a 3G laptop card (an EV-DO service), which lets me connect in locations where Wi-Fi doesn't exist. Yes, there are still places where this is the situation. The biggest benefit of this service is for mobile workers and road warriors who end up paying for single-day access at airports, hotels and other locations, and those prices eventually add up rather quickly. Instead of accessing multiple accounts, the iPassConnect service aggregates those into a single account, allowing for almost ubiquitous access through one login account. The service boasts access to more than 95,000 Wi-Fi hot spots worldwide, including access at more than 500 airports, 20,000 hotels and more than 70,000 retail locations (including Starbucks and McDonald's restaurants). The service includes access to a mobile user portal, which includes wireless hot spot locators and tools for handhelds, which allow the devices to access hot spot information without needing to boot up a notebook. Service plans begin at $29.95 per month (for Wi-Fi access to North America), with 3G network access (North America only) and worldwide hot spot access costing a bit more. I've had a few early bumps with the service – I couldn't connect with a T-Mobile hot spot at the Providence, R.I., airport, but this could be because I'm at the last terminal gate and the signal from this location is pretty weak. But at least the EV-DO card is working quite nicely, allowing me to have access to the Internet in order to check e-mail and write this blog post.

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