For the first time, mobile and Wi-Fi provider T-Mobile USA released user numbers for the "Hotspot" side of its business, saying it had 450,000 paying customers use the service over the past three months. The company did not give any comparison statistics for last year, although it did say customers are using the service for longer periods of time compared with previous years.

Users were staying logged in for an average of 64 minutes this year, an increase of 19 minutes over 2004 and 41 minutes over 2003. 3 million logins have been recorded so far this year. The T-Mobile Hotspot service is available in airports and hotels, as well as in Starbucks, Borders and Kinko's retail locations. According to the company, the service has about 5,700 US hotspots, and 6,500 across Europe.

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Nextel on Friday launched its Wi-Fi service, which promises to offer wireless Internet access at over 7,000 locations in North America, as well as offering access in over 150,000 hotel rooms through a partnership with Wayport.

For $39.99 USD per month, users will have unlimited access to the network of wireless hotspots. Nextel is also offering an option for those who need both Wi-Fi and mobile data for a promotional rate of $54.99 per month.

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Verizon is discontinuing complementary wireless Internet access for its DSL customers in New York City. Instead, Verizon will accelerate the deployment of paid Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) network services throughout the region. EV-DO is operated by Verizon Wireless and provides a wider range of access than Wi-Fi.

Despite its relatively low operating cost, the Wi-Fi hot spot service will be phased out, beginning in areas where it's less frequently used. As this is happening, Verizon Wireless will shift its focus toward promoting EV-DO based VCAST and BroadbandAccess services that are already available in Manhattan, parts of Northern New Jersey, as well as JFK, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty Airports.

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Cell phone users think a handset with Wi-Fi access is important, but scoff at features such as the capability to watch TV on their phones, according to a study on future cell phone features by research firm InStat.

InStat found that Wi-Fi, mapping features and traffic alerts, and voice activated text input scored highest with users. However, when asked about features such as using their phones for watching TV -- as some phones in Asia are beginning to include as a feature -- or using the phone as a wallet, which some Scandinavian countries already offer, users showed little interest.

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Philadelphia unveiled its plan Thursday to provide low-cost wireless Internet access throughout the city's 135 square-mile area. The city will build the network, although it will resell access to ISPs, communications companies and non-profit organizations that will handle the billing and supplying of equipment for customers to access the service.

The city itself plans to "buy" access from the network to use for communication between city offices. The city was one of the first major metropolitan areas to throw its support behind the technology, and started a trend among cities to bypass telecommunications companies and build the networks themselves.

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By this fall, Boston commuters will be able to use their laptops and PDAs with wireless capability in the city's subways. Wireless access will be available in the Park Street, Downtown Crossing, Government Center and State Street stations, as well as connecting tunnels, thanks to a 15-year agreement with InSite Wireless.

The city hopes to expand the Wi-Fi service to the entire subway system over the next few years. T-Mobile, meanwhile, already provides wireless access at the stations for its customers.

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From South Philadelphia to the top of Willian Penn's hat onto the far Northeast, the entire city of Philadelphia will soon be the first municipality to go wireless on a grand scale with a program that will provide low-income residents with affordable Internet access, in addition to complimentary service in public parks.

While the very idea may resonate like a pipedream, Chief Information Officer Dianah Neff and her team have opted not to acquiesce to the hype and have officially outlined the city's proposal to activate a citywide high-speed wireless network by the summer of 2006.

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Broadband telephone company Vonage is expected to announce plans Tuesday for a Wi-Fi phone that could make calls through a customer's wireless home network or at wireless hotspots, USA Today reported Tuesday. Vonage says it would work like a cell phone, but would not cost the subscriber any additional fees to use the service.

Vonage expects to be able to offer the phone to its 400,000 subscribers at a cost of about $100 per device. According to CEO Jeffrey Citron, it's a feature that Vonage has been planning to add for quite a while. "Our customers are asking for it," he said. The phone should be available by June of this year.

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At the Telecom World 2003 conference and exhibition in Geneva, Microsoft announced an enhancement to its wireless networking service, which the company boasts will make wireless broadband access faster, more secure and easier to access.

Wireless Provisioning Services (WPS) technology helps telecommunications providers using Windows 2003 servers provision and manage Wi-Fi hotspots. On the client side, WPS provides a streamlined sign up process for users seeking wireless access.

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Healthier fare and Newman's own dressing are not the only things McDonald's is cooking up these days. The bastion of fast food is continuing to expand its flirtation with Wi-Fi, spreading the "fat" across New York. A total of 75 golden arches across New York State sporting the @ symbol will serve as gateways to the Net, according to the company.

The wireless service, aimed at selling more meals, will be free throughout August and then rescind to a flat daily rate of less than three dollars. These revenues are being sought after to shore the company's finances up against a well publicized slip in sales and sliding profit margins.

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Taking its first steps improve security of wireless networks, Microsoft issued a patch for Windows XP that enables support for Wi-Fi Protected Access.

WPA serves as an interim solution for bolstering security, while the IEEE works to ratify 802.11i, a new wireless networking standard that is slated for completion by the end of the year.

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Centercode is looking for beta testers located in France, Brazil and Germany to trial a new product that allows you to access a wireless LAN in your corporate, home and various hot point locations.

"This new and innovative product is designed to provide excellent wireless access with maximum mobility," according to Centercode.

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Transfer rates for wireless devices using the Wi-Fi, or 802.11b standard will increase up to 54 megabits per second under a new standard approved late this past Thursday. Wi-Fi's successor, 802.11g operates within the frequency spectrum utilized by existing products – making it fully backward compatible with hundreds of current devices. Under the former standard, transfer rates were limited to 11Mb per second.

Reports published by Reuters indicate that the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) faced difficulty arbitrating an agreement on 802.11g between Texas Instruments and Intersil. However, a compromise was reached finding middle ground between each company's wish list of competing technologies that were to become the standard.

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