Boingo Wireless and Time Warner Cable have signed a bilateral Wi-Fi roaming deal that will allow their subscribers to tap into each other’s hotspots across the nation.
The deal—financial terms weren’t available—marked the first time a cable operator has inked a roaming agreement with Boingo.
Time Warner Cable’s broadband subscribers can now access more than 100 Boingo access locations across the nation, including 23 of the highest trafficked airports in the U.S. Boingo also has hotspots in 36 New York City subway station platforms and in high-traffic areas such as Soldier Field in Chicago.
On the other end, Boingo’s customers gained access to more than 35,000 Time Warner Cable hotspots in cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, Austin and Charlotte.
The two companies, which are both members of the Wireless Broadband Alliance participating in the Next Generation Hotspot trials, said they would complete a Passpoint-enabled integration later this year to allow users to connect seamlessly and securely with their Passpoint-certified devices and account credentials.
“Free Wi-Fi adds tremendous value to our Internet service. Now, our customers can stay connected when they travel with free access to Boingo Hotspots in major airports and other popular locations around the country,” said Rob Cerbone, vice president of mobile products for Time Warner Cable.
Last month Time Warner Cable added Passpoint, or Hotspot 2.0, capabilities to most of its access points in Southern California, New York City, Austin, Charlotte, Kansas City, Myrtle Beach and Hawaii. In February, Boingo launched Hotspot 2.0 support in 21 airports across the nation.
“Our agreement with Time Warner Cable greatly enhances our network of partner hotspots in the U.S., providing added value for our Boingo Unlimited and Boingo Mobile customers. We’re thrilled to extend access to the TWC WiFi Hotspots to our customers in cities from coast to coast,” said Nick Hulse, president, Boingo Wireless.
Boingo subscribers have to use the Boingo Wi-Finder app to connect to Time Warner Cable hotspots while monthly subscribers will be able to use a Passpoint profile to enable automatic access once the Passpoint integration is completed later this year.
TWC customers need to select the “Boingo Hotspot” SSID from the list of available networks, and from the Boingo sign-in page, select Time Warner Cable from a list of providers. Then they can log-in using their TWC ID and password or their Time Warner Cable email and password.
The deal didn’t include the hotspots that are shared among the CableWiFi alliance, which spans more than 250,000 access points across the nation in Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Cox Communications, Cablevision and Bright House Networks’ footprints.
