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BT Total Broadband customers will now gain unlimited access to the entire network of 1.5 million BT Wi-Fi hotspots across the UK.
Previously, BT Total Broadband users had limits on Wi-Fi minutes available to use at BT FON and BT Openzone hotspots depending on their BT Total Broadband option.
At a time when the focus is on restricted 3G access plans in the face of strong demand for mobile phones and tablets such as the iPad, the new BT strategy takes advantage of the telco’s massive Wi-Fi network to drive the retail broadband business in the face of stiff competition.
In addition to the fixed infrastructure of BT Openzone in places such as airports, hotels, coffee shops, BT FON is built on a network Wi-Fi community of people who can take sharing their broadband access securely with other BT FON members when on the road in the UK.
The company forecasts the BT FON network to grow to over 2.5m hotspots by the end of 2011. For many the unlimited Wi-Fi access looks set to be a genuine alternative to expensive 3G plans for their data hungry mobile devices.
John Petter, for BT Retail consumer managing director said: “Because of the growing number of BT customers with mobile devices such as tablet computers and smartphones, we know that mobile access to the internet is needed more than ever before. Now that operators like O2 are rationing 3G, BT Total Broadband customers can find fast Wi-Fi connections all over the UK’s towns and cities with unlimited internet access from 1.5 million hotspots.”
BT also said that it will shortly unveil a downloadable application for BT Openzone and BT FON users that will make finding hotspots and moving between them even easier.
