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Existing T-Mobile USA customers will be able to have charges for unlimited monthly Wi-Fi access included in their voice-services bills, the company says.

The $20 bill for unlimited monthly access to T-Mobile's network of hot spots at venues such as airports, Starbucks coffee shops, and Borders bookstores will appear alongside existing customers' standard voice charges, says Bryan Zidar, a T-Mobile spokesperson. Previously, T-Mobile's Wi-Fi customers had to pay their Wi-Fi bills via credit card each month, regardless of whether they were also voice customers.

Keeping Customers

The move is a logical step toward reducing customer churn, which affects all wireless carriers, says Dana Tardelli, research director at The Yankee Group. Nearly one of every three wireless customers leaves their provider each year, and the carriers are doing all they can to keep those existing customers from switching to other plans, he says.

The greatest advantage of T-Mobile's Wi-Fi service is its price, more so than the bundled billing service, Tardelli says. Compared with unlimited-access plans for nationwide service from other vendors such as Boingo Wireless and Wayport, the T-Mobile plan is cheaper, and offers more hot-spot locations. For noncustomers, T-Mobile charges $30 monthly for unlimited access with a yearly contract, or $40 for just a one-month commitment to access the Internet at about 2300 hot spots.

Boingo offers an unlimited monthly plan for nationwide use at 1200 hot spots for $50. Wayport charges $30 for a month's worth of unlimited access if the customer signs a year-long contract, and $50 if the customer chooses to pay month to month for unlimited access to the company's 535 hot spots at hotels and airports.

Wireless in the Works

Other wireless phone carriers plan to offer Wi-Fi services with their cellular voice and data services.

AT&T Wireless Services' GoPort plan costs $70 monthly for unlimited access to Wayport's network of hot spots. Sprint has said it is working on rolling out a Wi-Fi service.

T-Mobile is a subsidiary of German cellular provider T-Mobile International, which is owned by Deutsche Telekom.

The company plans to introduce software improving the log-on experience of hot-spot users in mid-2003, Zidar says. T-Mobile is working toward eventually developing software and devices that allow users to roam between Wi-Fi networks and cellular wide-area networks, he adds.

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