SBC Communications Inc. plans to storm its way into the Wi-Fi market today, offering its broadband Internet customers $2-a-month access to its wireless hotspots.

The subscription plan gives SBC customers access to its FreedomLink wireless Internet service in nearly 4,000 locations across the country, including UPS Store locations.

The $2-a-month charge is only for customers who have an SBC digital subscriber line connection.

The plan is the most significant Wi-Fi move yet by San Antonio-based SBC, which trailed other telecommunications providers in inventing ways to sell the service.

One of the most popular Wi-Fi networks, run by T-Mobile USA, offers cellphone subscribers access to hotspots at Starbucks and FedEx Kinko's locations for $20 a month.

Verizon Communications Inc. has a free plan for its broadband Internet subscribers, but only for locations in New York City.

Wi-Fi is a radio-based technology that sends data wirelessly between a computer and a base station, which is connected by wire to the Internet. The technology has caught on in homes and businesses alike, and many stores and restaurants have become Wi-Fi hotspots.

To access a Wi-Fi network, computers must have the correct components built in or added through an adapter.

Including the UPS Stores, SBC's network has 262 locations in Texas, such as Barnes & Noble bookstores and several apartment complexes.

Outside the state, the service works in Caribou Coffeehouses and in select McDonald's restaurants. The company has a full list of its FreedomLink locations at www.sbc.com/freedomlink.

The service includes hundreds of locations outside the 13 states in which SBC sells telephone service.

"Wherever a DSL customer goes, within the region or out of the region, they'll have places where they can access Wi-Fi," said Eric Franey, director of SBC's Wi-Fi implementation.

The $2-per-month SBC offer requires a one-year subscription to FreedomLink. SBC charges non-DSL subscribers $20 a month for the service and sells day passes on its network for $8 in most locations.

By: DocMemory
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