How to Easily Get on Wi-Fi with Your Phone
Tue Feb 13, 2007 5:54AM EST
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Mobile handset manufacturers have been touting Wi-Fi capability in their phones for a while, but as most of us know, actually finding a Wi-Fi hotspot is harder than the hype would have us believe, which is too bad considering the sheer amount of things you'll be able to do with your cell-cum-smart-phones, like VoIP-enabled phone calls.
But now Boingo Wireless, the service that gives you easy access to hundreds of paying hotspots around the globe for a low monthly fee, is offering a special Wi-Fi service for people with mobile phones. For $7.95 a month, Boingo Mobile, as the new service is called, gives you access to hundreds of hotspots run by different providers in more than 60 countries around the world. This means you'll save on roaming charges for data access, and, if you've got VoIP ability, voice calls.
It also means no more complicated and sometimes impossible configuring—what traveler has time for that?—when trying to get on a Wi-Fi hotspot in some random airport, since the software download you use to access the service takes care of getting online no matter where you are. Boingo has announced at 3GSM that the service would be available for Symbian and Series 60 OS phones (Nokia and Ericsson phones), for the most part. But, currently, the download site only offers software for Windows Mobile 5.
All I know is I could have used this service a couple of weeks ago when trying to get the Wi-Fi working on my Nokia N93 at the Paris airport, en route to India. I finally gave up and went for the laptop, but even then I kept maxing out the one-hour Wi-Fi cards I had to buy to use the airport's Wi-Fi network, forcing me to re-log-in to sites several times. I've had similar issues at airports in India where I can't even charge the airport Wi-Fi (instead, I have to pay cash for these Wi-Fi cards). Not the end of the world, but a hassle when you're trying to finish a piece and turn it in before the plane takes off!
Do you use Wi-Fi enough on your phone that you'd sign up for this service?
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1 Posted by xavier_chatman on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:51PM EDT Report Abuse
Yes, I do use Wi-Fi enough and even go out of my way to find free hotspots. However, this services that Boingo Mobile is offering is very promising. At $ 7.95 per month for access in 60 countries is a bargain. I use the N93 and the O2 Xda mini S for all of my Wi-Fi needs. I would recommend that all mid/high-in phones be equipped with Wi-Fi for the costs and reliability compared to 3G/EDGE is second to none.