Just travel with me for bit. So, you’re at the airport, and your flight has just been delayed. You take out your smartphone or your laptop, but you don’t have a data plan stick with you. So you log into the airport’s Wi-Fi, which is the slowest internet you’ve ever used. Now, you have to wait hours in an airport, without pretty much anything to do. That’s going to change if this company has its way, as Boingo Plans Airport Wi-Fi up to 50 Mbps.
- Bongo Wireless is the leading Wireless and DAS provider in the country
- They are planning a tiered internet service
- There will also be a free option, offering 5 Mbps
- Only 7 airports will enjoy the offer for now, but it will expand starting next year
Having previously teamed up with AT&T, Sprint, and even the New York Port Authority in order to provide free Wi-Fi to airports, Boing Wireless has decided to start bringing out a whole new system of wireless for airport use.
Their new system is called the S.M.A.R.T. network approach, and the acronym stands for Secure, Multiplatform, Analytics-Driven, Responsive and Tiered. This, of course, is a huge marketing opportunity for the company.
What the company means by ‘tiered’ is that different speeds will come for different prices, with those paying the least getting limited speeds, and those paying the most getting speeds of up to 50 Mbps.
Every traveller will get free Wi-Fi in the airport, albeit limited at 5 Mbps. Meanwhile, Boingo offers special tiers for what they call ‘power users’, who need the fastest possible internet.
Even though Boingo President Nick Hulse says that the services they are offering are revolutionary, and that they provide an innovative approach to wireless airport networks, it really isn’t that much different than how other countries with faster internet speeds manage their subscribers.
At least in Europe, internet speeds have always been limited to the type of subscription you were paying for, with the highest paying customers getting the fastest speeds.
The company promise a stable, secure connection regardless of speed, so that’s a plus.
So far, the services are only available in Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Boston – Logan International, Chicago – Midway International, Chicago – O’Hare International, New York – John F. Kennedy International, New York – LaGuardia International, and Newark Liberty International, but the company is planning to bring their services to all national airports starting next year.
Image source: Wikimedia
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