MCI Adds Wireless Hot Spots

MCI has more than quadrupled the number of wireless hot spots available to customers of its Remote Access service through an agreement with Boingo Wireless, the companies have announced.

MCI, still officially known as WorldCom, has added 2000 wireless hot spots worldwide to its existing 600 U.S. Wi-Fi locations with the deal. Customers of MCI's Remote Access service will have access to additional hot spots in more than 19 countries, including Japan, Mexico, and the UK. MCI's existing 600 hot spots, available through an agreement with Wayport, are located mostly in hotels and airports, but the deal opens up Wi-Fi access to a number of other types of locations, including cafés and restaurants, says Ralph Montfort, director of access products for MCI.

Through its agreement with wireless service aggregator Boingo, MCI plans to add another 3000 wireless hot spots to its network in 2004, according to the company. MCI will also pursue agreements with other wireless hot spot providers in the coming year, Montfort adds. Wi-Fi access on the MCI service starts at $8 for the first hour of service each day, with a per-minute charge after that and a cap of $15 per day.

Luring New Users

The expanded locations are aimed at "windshield warriors," those workers who travel frequently within their home areas, in addition to "road warriors," those workers who travel frequently by airline, says Kevin Gatesman, senior manager of emerging technologies for MCI. The company is also seeing a demand for Wi-Fi hot spots from users of personal digital assistants. Many companies, notably delivery services, are looking at using PDAs to connect drivers to main offices, he says.

MCI chose Boingo Wireless because its wireless client is easy to use, Montfort says. MCI's service allows companies to designate which employees are allowed to have Wi-Fi access, and the Boingo client searches wireless connections available to users and matches them to ones available to use with MCI's service. The Boingo client also allows connections to wireless networks at work or at home, Gatesman says.

"What we're seeing more and more from our customers is, they don't want to mess with remote access," Montfort says. "They want everybody connected, but they don't want to have to think about it, worry about it. They want to go with somebody that [offers] something that's easy to use ... but then on the coverage side, they say they want reasonable coverage for traveling users."