Boingo Wireless breaks through the 2,500 mark: Boingo has been stuck at about 1,300 locations, with about 40 percent of them Wayport locations, for some time. Tomorrow's announcement, already available on their site tonight, propels them into neck-to-neck competition with T-Mobile, which has nearly 3,000 locations all under their direct control.
Boingo's deal with STSN puts them into Marriott properties, including Marriott and Renaissance hotels. Marriott aggressively rolled broadband out in the last few months, and has nearly 500 hotels equipped. STSN plans an aggressive expansion themselves, predicting several thousands locations within 12 months.
Boingo needs to crack the T-Mobile nut and they become the go-to company, with the ability to sell to corporations and individuals who want a single rate across all the major networks. At $21.95 for the next 12 months, their unlimited plan (with no cancellation penalty) has no comparison. (T-Mobile's $20/month plan requires T-Mobile cell service and a one-year commitment; the $40/month plan is month-to-month with a $25 cancellation fee.)
Even more important, increasing to over 2,500 locations -- within the next 90 days, it should be noted -- gives them the national scale and scope that will allow them to compete with Sprint PCS's new rollout as well as SBC's. This allows Boingo to more easily cut a deal with the cell carriers because they bring so much to the table.
I'm still waiting for them to support the Mac platform...last word was 2Q release and we're almost to Labor Day. Too bad we can't all take advantage of their service :-)
I'm still wondering why they require special software at all. I goes against the whole idea of public hotspots.