Company teams with Boingo to add 2,000 Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide WASHINGTON – MCI has more than quadrupled the number of wireless hotspots available to customers of its Remote Access service through an agreement with Boingo Wireless Inc. announced this week.MCI, still officially known as WorldCom Inc., added 2,000 wireless hotspots 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 hotspots in more than 19 countries including, Japan, Mexico and the U.K. MCI’s existing 600 hotspots, available through an agreement with Wayport Inc., are located mostly in hotels and airports, but the expanded hotspots will open up WiFi access to a number other types of locations, include cafes and restaurants, said Ralph Montfort, director of access products for MCI.MCI, through its agreement with wireless service aggregater Boingo, plans to add an additional 3,000 wireless hotspots to its network in 2004 according to the company. MCI will also pursue agreements with other wireless hotspot providers in the coming year, Montfort added. WiFi access on the MCI service starts at US$8 for the first hour of service each day, with a per minute charge after that and a cap of $15 per day. 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, said Kevin Gatesman, senior manager of emerging technologies for MCI. The company is also seeing a demand for Wi-Fi hotspots from PDA (personal digital assistant) users, with companies including delivery services looking at using PDAs to connect drivers to main offices, he said.MCI chose Boingo Wireless because its wireless client is easy to use, Montfort said. 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 it to ones available to use with MCI’s service. The Boingo client also allows connections to work or home wireless networks, Gatesman said.“What we’re seeing more and more from our customers is they don’t want to mess with remote access,” Montfort said. “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 combines something that’s easy to use … but then on the coverage side, they say they want reasonable coverage for traveling users.” Technology Industry