Wi-Fi Networking News relays the news that on September 25th, Intel is footing the bill for Wi-Fi pretty much across the United States:
The list of participants includes AT&T plain and AT&T Wireless, Boingo Wireless, Cometa, iPass, Sprint, STSN (iBahn), Toshiba, Verizon Wireless, and Wayport.
So that’s pretty much every Starbucks, hotel lobby, resturant, and airport in the US that has Wi-Fi connectivity.
Some background: I signed up with T-Mobile a couple of months ago after many unhappy years with Sprint PCS. I snagged a Nokia 3650 for free after rebates through Amazon. I pay about $40/mo for service (600 anytime, unlimited nights and weekends) and about $10 for GPRS service, an additional $3 for 500 text messages, plus various taxes.
I called T-Mobile’s customer service the other day to enable international roaming ($.99/min in the UK), and while I had the very helpful service rep on the phone, I asked if I could switch my $9.99/mo 10MB GPRS plan to the current $9.99/mo unlimited plan. It took her a few minutes of computer wrangling, but she switched it over without a problem.
I also asked her how much GPRS roaming in the UK would be. She put me on hold for a minute or two, and came back with the wonderful information that GPRS roaming costs $0.99/MB in the UK.
That’s actually cheaper than some GPRS plans for people that live in the UK.
The difference that a world phone makes is amazing. It can go almost anywhere. T-Mobile’s GPRS coverage is spotty in the midwest and away from major urban/suburban areas, but it works everywhere that I’ve been around the US and all over Europe. Try that with your CDMA phone.