iPass helps individuals go mobile

Mobile service consolidator iPass is letting individuals in on a service that enterprises have used for several years, giving travelers one account and login for a multitude of networks.

The company’s iPassConnect service, announced Monday, includes access to Wi-Fi hotspots, 3G mobile data, wired hotel broadband, and dial-up just like its existing enterprise service, but it is geared toward individual business and pleasure travelers.

As the mobile wireless industry gathers this week at the CTIA Wireless trade show in Las Vegas, there will be many wireless mobile options on display, but none of them provide a good signal everywhere. Consolidators such as iPass prevent travelers from having to pay for and manage multiple services at daily and hourly rates.

Boingo Wireless already offers consumers consolidated access to more than 100,000 Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide, including thousands it added last month from Wayport. But that service doesn’t include 3G, which significantly expands connectivity outside particular locations such as hotels, restaurants, and airports.

The 3G service, which requires a one-time $125 charge for a special PC Card modem, provides access to Sprint Nextel’s EvDO network across the United States without a contract or bill from Sprint. It does not include connectivity to HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access) networks, the main type used by 3G providers in Europe and Asia, which is offered with the enterprise service.

iPass sees customers of iPassConnect as less likely to travel overseas, though the service does include access to nearly 45,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in Europe and almost 25,000 in Asia, according to Piero DePaoli, director of global product marketing at iPass. Worldwide, it includes about 95,000 Wi-Fi hotspots. Numbers for global dial-up Internet access are also included as a backup.

Looking ahead, iPass also wants to include WiMax wide-area wireless, DePaoli said. Sprint plans to launch its WiMax service commercially in the second quarter of this year.

The iPassConnect service is available now for Windows Vista, XP, and 2000 laptops with prices starting at $29.99. A Windows Mobile client is due in the first half of this year and other platforms will follow, according to iPass.