iPass say they crossed the 10,000 hotspots mark in their aggregated network and then some: iPass now offers 11,179 Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide through aggregated partner networks. The release also says that they have 12,000 more under contract for the future, which is a quite extraordinary number.
The 2,900 hotels included in this total all have Wi-Fi in at least public spaces, a company spokesperson confirmed. Many of them may have wired in-room broadband, however. An increasing number of hotels are starting with Wi-Fi from the get-go; others are converting from wired broadband to Wi-Fi for greater flexibility as costs drop, range increases, and wireless backhaul becomes simpler.
The largest hotspot operators in the U.S. have boiled down to three companies for the near future: T-Mobile (about 4,500), Wayport (several hundred hotels with a mix of Wi-Fi and wired broadband, plus thousands of McDonald's coming online this year), and SBC FreedomLink (several thousand The UPS Store outlets, managed by Wayport).