BT Openzone halves cost of Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi access cost sliced. More places to connect added
BT today cut Wi-Fi rates by up to 50 per cent as it launched a new, simple, great value price structure. More than 2,500 extra European hotspots are also being added, bringing the choice of places to connect to more than 50,000 overseas, and over 100,000 UK and Ireland locations.
Four new tariffs make the popular wireless broadband service great value at as little as ½p per minute, for use at thousands of popular locations. The new products will be available to new and existing customers from today:
- BT Original, provides 500 minutes' access to BT Openzone, BT FON and BT Business Total Broadband hotspots for just £5 per month.
- BT Openzone Together, a new £12.50 a month option, with unlimited BT Openzone, BT FON and BT Business Total Broadband hotspot access, plus 500 UK roaming minutes, is half the price of its equivalent.
- BT Openzone Global, ideal for frequent travellers, provides unlimited BT Openzone, BT FON, BT Business Total Broadband hotspot minutes, 500 UK and 500 international roaming minutes for £28 a month.
- In addition, the flexible BT Openzone per Minute tariff has been reduced by 25 per cent to 15p per minute. This is ideal for intermittent Wi-Fi use in the UK and abroad.
Over the agreed allocation, on BT Openzone Original, Global and Together, use is reduced to 10p per minute anywhere. This is great value compared with other roaming technologies where downloading a relatively small 1MB file can cost as much as £10.00 over GSM, GPRS and 3G. Making VoIP calls from Wi-Fi is also significantly cheaper than making or receiving calls over GSM when abroad.
Full details of the new tariffs:
| BT Openzone Original | BT Openzone Together | BT Openzone Global | BT Openzone per Minute | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly charge | £5 (ex VAT) | £12.50 (ex VAT) | £28.00 (ex VAT) | No |
| Inclusive BT Openzone , BT FON, BT Business Total Broadband & KeConnect | 500 | Unlimited, subject to Fair Use Policy* | Unlimited, subject to Fair Use Policy* | No |
| Inclusive UK roaming mins (T-Mobile UK) | No | 500 | 500 | No |
| Inclusive international roaming mins | No | No | 500 | No |
| Additional BT Openzone mins | 10p per minute | n/a as Unlimited mins included | n/a as Unlimited mins included | No |
| Price cap for additional BT Openzone mins (subject to FUP) | £40 | No | No | No |
| UK/additional UK roaming | 10p per minute | 10p per minute | 10p per minute | 15p per minute |
| International/ additional int Roaming | 10p per minute | 10p per minute | 10p per minute | 15p per minute |
| Minimum term | 12 months | 18 months | 12 months | 12 months |
* Fair Use Policy of 3GB per month applies to BT Openzone Together and BT Openzone Global
BT is also announcing a further 2,500 places to connect in high demand locations, through roaming partners Swisscom Hospitality Services and Comfone. These add to the 6,600 UK, Europe and Americas hotspots, announced on 3 October 2008.
Swisscom Hospitality Services, which goes live later this quarter, provides access in 223,000 rooms at more than 2,000 major UK and European hotels including NH Hoteles and Hilton in Continental Europe. Comfone's WLAN roaming hub, WeRoam, provides 418 hotspots from METEOR Networks in France. BT's international footprint now includes more than 50,000 places to connect.
Chris Bruce, general manager, BT Openzone, said: "The wireless broadband access market is at an exciting stage. Over the last six months we have seen double the use compared with the same period last year, with huge demand at hotels, major travel hubs, high street locations and residential and business areas. We've listened to our customers and not only have we simplified our tariffs but we've added more value and places to connect."
BT customers can choose to get online at over 100,000 UK and Ireland locations, including those provided by the BT FON Wi-Fi Community, BT Openzone and its roaming partners, plus BT Openzone at BT Business Total Broadband hotspots. These include airports, railway stations, leading hotel chains, motorway service stations, coffee shops, marinas, residential areas and extensive coverage across 12 major city centres. For more information on BT Openzone, visit www.btopenzone.com