BT Openzone-Cloud roaming deal comes to an end
Friday 26 September 2008 14:10:25 by John Hunt
The Register is reporting that BT Openzone and The Cloud customers will have less hotspots to connect to from Thursday following the end of a roaming deal between the two companies. The Cloud is offering BT Openzone users 30 days free Wi-Fi if they take out a subscription to try and win some customers from the ending of the BT agreement.
"It's disappointing for BT Openzone customers that they will no longer be able to benefit from the convenience of our hotspots - we are disappointed that BT could not reach acceptable commercial terms, though we are certain everyone will understand that our service partners, O2, Orange, AT&T, iPass and many others are happy to do business with The Cloud."
Statement from The Cloud
This doesn't bode well for the Wi-Fi market, particularly considering the news yesterday that mobile broadband has overtaken Wi-Fi in Internet usage away from home or the workplace.
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We have a roaming agreement with BT, allowing BT users to use our KeZone network in the UK, which is generating just under 5 million minutes of traffic per annum,(we have access to 30,000 hotspots worldwide using international Roaming Agreements). The vast majority of traffic in the UK comes from the locations where BT Openzone resides, so I don't think it will make that much difference to wi-fi users here. I wonder if The cloud wanted too much money for their roaming agreement?
My iPhone browses the net considerably faster than BTO or Cloud hotspots in the areas where I live and work. I have a BTO subscription as well for back up in an emergency. 3g speedtests in my area range from 1.6Mbps to 2.8Mbps versus BTO 400-600kbps.
Does this mean that McDonalds Cloud will not work anymore then?
I thought that was a fault but the cloud didnt work for me over 10 days ago.
quote"Does this mean that McDonalds Cloud will not work anymore then?
I thought that was a fault but the cloud didnt work for me over 10 days ago."
Only works if you order fries and a large drink ;)
I guess the only reason we have WiFi now is for the largely incapable iPhones that people still think are great despite having numerous flaws, given that the first generation went for 2G and the 2nd generation still went with O2 despite having sod all 3G of any worth from my experience, making WiFi necessary.
I think I've used a Wi-Fi jobbie 3 times in 5 years or more. Mainly because mobile data was always less hassle, if not always faster.
Let me know when the last unit gets turned off so I can take off the faraday cage :-)