Mobile working Toolkit

iPass lands roaming deal with The Cloud

Graeme Wearden ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 12 Apr 2006 13:55 BST

Network access provider iPass has landed a roaming deal with The Cloud.

The agreement will allow iPass customers to access the Internet through The Cloud's 6,000 European Wi-Fi hot spots, most of which are in the UK.

iPass allows businesses and individuals to use a variety of network operators, both wireless and fixed-line, via a single subscription. This can be attractive to IT managers, as it means they don't have to set up accounts with several different operators. The downside, though, is that network aggregation services such as iPass don't have deals with every operator.

The absence of a deal with The Cloud meant that iPass wasn't able to give its subscribers access to the UK's largest network of Wi-Fi hot spots, which is likely to have made it less attractive to potential customers.

The agreement will also cover the city-centre "hot zones" that iPass is currently building, in Birmingham, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham and Oxford, along with the London boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, Camden and Islington.