SBC Will Join Growing Number Of Companies Offering Wi-Fi

No surprise here, but just hours after Verizon announced their deal with Wayport SBC has come out with the details of their WiFi plans. They claim they're going to deploy over 20,000 hotspots at over 6,000 locations in the next three years. Sound ambitious? You bet! But, that's never stopped any company in the WiFi space from claiming ridiculously large numbers of hotspots that they plan to build. Seeing if they actually build them is another story. In the meantime, not to be left out, SBC will simply be reselling Wayport's 700 hotspots, alongside Verizon Wireless, Sprint PCS, and AT&T Wireless. There aren't full details on the plan, but they say they're going to build up a bunch of hotspots and then come out with some sort of subscription pricing - a strategy that isn't likely to get them very far, based on everyone else's experience. They're going to do this in conjunction with their Cingular subsidiary. It's too bad that they couldn't at least be the slightest bit creative in the business model. It will be interesting to see if they rethink their plans along the way.

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