Boingo launches $8/month worldwide VoIP over Wi-Fi plan: The firm had soft-launched this offering before, providing it as an option for Belkin's Skype phone and offering details to the press. It's now formally out there as Boingo Mobile--flat-rate, non-metered, worldwide Wi-Fi phone access. Boingo's Internet access service is a flat $22 per month for US locations, but has metered rates at many non-US hotspots.
Boingo Mobile can be downloaded as a software add-on for Windows Mobile 5-based smartphones and PocketPC handhelds. The company expects operators and handset makers to offer integration, too.
At the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Boingo's technology was shown running on the Symbian OS, the smartphone platform that powers 70 percent of such phones worldwide (and almost none in the US). They will be demonstrating the service on a Nokia S60--70m of this series of phone are already on the market.
Also at the conference, Boingo announced an operator-focused server platform that allows remote setup of the Wi-Fi side of handsets without the user having to make any changes themselves. This allows operators to customize the phone's service plan, or remotely enable service when an existing user with a capable handset wants to turn on Wi-Fi access.