GoRemote Internet Communications is offering mobile users more access choices and expanding the geographic reach of its network through two roaming deals.
GoRemote (formerly known as Gric Communications) last week launched its Mobile Office Revolution service, the successor to its Mobile Office offering. The new service bundles an array of mobile access technologies including free, standard and in-flight Wi-Fi, 3G and landline offerings including Ethernet and DSL.
For the first time, a GoRemote customer will be able to use free Wi-Fi service offered at a coffee shop or fast food restaurant with the same client they use when on a paid service or connecting via Ethernet at a hotel.
One user is happy to see GoRemote is adding free Wi-Fi to its list of access choices.
“Indeed we plan to let employees use [free Wi-Fi], and we’re even happier they are tracking the hot spots so we don’t have to go looking for them,” says Lee Jones, vice president of IT and CIO at Stratex Networks in San Jose.
Wi-Fi service providers have said their paid services are more reliable and secure than free services. GoRemote says now that it has incorporated free Wi-Fi services with its standard client, users have the same secure connection regardless if the hot spot is from a free or paid Wi-Fi service.
When users turn on their laptops, the GoRemote client reveals all access methods available and a rating for each free Wi-Fi hot spot. This rating system will be based on GoRemote customer feedback. The rating system will help users determine the quality of the free hot spots based on reliability and signal strength.
GoRemote also signed a deal with Connexion by Boeing, a business unit of The Boeing Company. GoRemote users will be able to use the Connexion in-flight Wi-Fi service as one of the thousands of hot spots available to all GoRemote customers.
There will be an additional fee for the Connexion service, but GoRemote would not reveal pricing.
Stratex plans to let its employees also use the in-flight Wi-Fi service, Jones says. The company has about 250 employees using GoRemote, and the majority are outside the U.S.
“We have a large manufacturing plant in New Zealand. That’s a 14.5 hour flight from the U.S.,” he says. “The increased productivity is our ROI.”
