Sprint will begin providing Wi-Fi access this summer through approximately 800 hotspots in key locations across the U.S. The hotspots will be either built and managed by Sprint or made available through roaming agreements with Wayport. Sprint is planning to have over 2,100 Wi-Fi locations by the end of the year. Airpath Wireless will provide hosted services to Sprint including credit card authentication services, end user management and integrated customer care. Initially, customers will be able to subscribe to PCS Wi-Fi Access using their credit cards. In late 2003, Sprint expects to integrate usage charges into the customers’ monthly PCS Service Plan statement. Pricing will be announced once the service becomes available later this summer. Wayport has nearly 500 Wi-Fi locations in its network, including hotels such as Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Loews, Sheraton, Hilton and Marriott, as well as the airports including Buffalo Niagara, Dallas-Fort Worth, Seattle-Tacoma, New York LaGuardia, San Jose, Austin-Bergstrom, Oakland and Minneapolis-St. Paul.
http://www.sprint.com
http://www.wayport.net
- Earlier this month, Wayport began offering Wi-Fi access at approximately 75 McDonalds locations in the San Francisco Bay area, and announced plans to launch a pilot Wi-Fi networks in Chicago and across Canada.
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Also this month, MCI announced a roaming partnership with Wayport that gives its customers access to corporate networks from Wayport Wi-Fi sites.
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In May, Wayport signed an agreement with CNN to offer Wi-Fi service in the 38 airports across the U.S. with access to CNN Airport Network.
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In January, AT&T Wireless signed a strategic Wi-Fi roaming agreement with Wayport, giving its subscribers access to Wayport hotspots.
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Wayport’s other roaming partners include Boingo, iPass and GRIC.