How Boingo saved me a cool hundred bucks

Remember when getting online in airports and hotel rooms meant having a laptop with a built-in modem, paying for a nationwide dialup service, and finding a phone jack to plug into? There were a couple of pay phones with data jacks in many airports, and for a while the gem of the travel industry was the US Airways Shuttle lounge at LaGuardia, with plenty of power outlets and phone jacks galore. Once you made it to the hotel, you might have to crawl around a bit to find a data jack -- or unplug the room phone.

About a decade ago, you could even "tether" your cell phone to your laptop and get online through little-known hacks. I remember doing that in a motel room on the coast of Maine, and getting speeds like a 14.4 modem of a decade earlier might have offered.

In those days, I traveled with phone-jack splitters, extra phone cords, and before long even an Apple AirPort programmed to dial into Earthlink, so I could take advantage of the new-fangled Wi-Fi feature of my PowerBook even before most hotels had even considered offering such a service on their own.

Now, just about every hotel and airport offers Wi-Fi service, or wired Internet service. Some of them offer it for free, but countless more charge, with typical fees in the $10-13 per day range in hotels, and similar daily rates or smaller hourly rates in airports. In some cases, as with Marriott's Wired-for-Business offer, the daily rate includes unlimited local and long distance phone calls, but in this cellular age, who's still using the hotel room phone other than to call room service or housekeeping? Any way you slice it, if the Internet connection isn't free, it adds up fast. (And if they're not charging extra for it, it's not really "free;" you're just paying as part of the room charge whether you use the service or not.)

How can you avoid paying such high fees for an hour online in the airport, or a few hours in the hotel room once you arrive? A company called Boingo Wireless has monthly plans that include access in many of the airports and hotels that otherwise charge daily. The most common plan for laptop users costs the same $10 per month as most hotels charge per day.

I was already vaguely aware of Boingo when I was traveling this summer, and ran into a red-clad Boingo promoter at a California convention center. The hotel I was staying in doesn't participate in Boingo's massive network, but I still gratefully took the offered Get Online Free card. (No relation to the "Get Out of Jail Free" card or the "Get Out of Hell Free" card.)

It turned out the next month featured three airports and one five-day hotel stay where Boingo is accepted. When the hotel's price for Internet access is $13 a day, that $10 monthly Boingo price saves a pretty penny, and being able to get my laptop online at the airport -- where I typically save money by using my iPhone and leaving the laptop offline -- was a bonus.

In addition to its $10 monthly laptop plan, Boingo offers an $8 plan to put your smartphone on Wi-Fi, helpful for video streaming or if you're on a limited cellular data plan. (Yes, you can use that smartphone plan on your iPad.) Get both as a combo plan for $18. (No, there's no combo savings, just the convenience of a single login.)

Not sure whether you'll be covered? Boingo's web site has a list of locations where their service works, as well as a helpful listing of other providers' Wi-Fi hotspots, some free and some not. Pricier plans offer connections in the UK and Ireland (£15/month) or globally ($60/month for both laptop and smartphone). Around the world, Boingo has over 210,000 hotspots.

Boingo isn't everywhere, and some of us are not always traveling, so it's not necessarily a good deal to keep paying every month. I've suspended my monthly subscription until travel picks up again, but in the meantime, I can always get online for a single 24-hour period with Boingo AsYouGo, or even connect for just an hour at a time using the Boingo Wi-Fi Credits app for iPhone or iPad, which I mentioned in the Tech Trebuchet Holiday Gift Guide a couple of weeks ago.

They offer, but don't require, free Boingo software to install on your Windows or Mac laptop, or on your iPhone (or iPod or iPad), Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and a few other handhelds. If you've got the slick software installed, connecting at a Boingo-supported hotspot is a snap; if you haven't, just log in using your web browser. 

The kind folks at Boingo Wireless are offering a free one-hour Airport Access pass to 25 lucky Tech Trebuchet readers. That pass works at select airports; follow the link to see which airports are included, and please only request one of these free passes if you're sure you'll be able to use it. If you're not sure you'll use it, please leave it for someone who will.

To enter the giveaway, just comment on this post by 11:59:59pm ET next Monday, December 20th, and we'll select 25 lucky winners from among the commenters. (Note: I'm not getting anything out of promoting Boingo or offering this giveaway; I'm just a very satisfied customer and I like to share the love.)

Meantime, I've enjoyed following Boingo on Twitter and Facebook, and encourage you to do the same. They've got a quirky and traveler-friendly stream of consciousness that, far from just promoting themselves, talks about lots more going on in the travel world and the online industry. (They also sometimes offer their own special deals to their followers and fans.) While you're at it, don't forget to "like" or tweet this post to spread the word!