BT today has announced a new freebie mobile app to make it easier for their customers to connect to its network of 1.6 million Wi-Fi hotspots.
The company is hoping that their new FON smartphone app will help customers find and speedily hook up to its network of Wi-Fi hotspots, with the app being made available on the iPhone and Android platforms.
Here’s BT’s press release in full:
BT today announced a new free mobile application that will automatically connect customers to its network of 1.6 million Wi-Fi hotspots, giving them an even easier way to connect to the internet when they are on the move.
The free iPhone and Android application gives BT Total Broadband customers easy mobile access to free and unlimited Wi-Fi and includes a mapping service which is updated weekly so that customers can find their nearest hotspot.
Once BT customers have downloaded the app, all they need to do is input their btinternet email username and password, and choose to be automatically logged in whenever they are in a BT Wi-Fi area.
The access is unlimited and free for BT Total Broadband customers, so there’s no chance of racking up extra costs on your mobile phone bill.
The apps can be downloaded from the usual app stores, with BT contributing 50p to Children in Need for every BT FON app download, up to a maximum of £10,000.
A little perspective
We’re never going to knock companies donating to charities, but a little perspective may be in order here: the £10,000 works out at just one per cent of the bonus BT chief executive Ian Livingston awarded himself this year. Go figure.
[Via]
The interesting thing about this is the community element – by signing up, you are gaining access to more hotspots, but also agreeing to securely share a portion of your own Wi-Fi bandwidth via your BT Home Hub router with other members who are in range. BT say it won’t compromise your security or bandwidth.