AT&T Gives Customers Free Access To Fon's International Hotspots
Maintaining a connection can be tough even in the United States, but things become monumentally more challenging once you head overseas. High-priced roaming rates, incompatible 3G/4G bands, and unreliable rental SIMs can cause all sorts of headaches for those just looking to send one or two e-mails upon arrival, but thankfully, things are (slowly but surely) starting to improve. AT&T has in recent months lowered its rates for small overseas broadband tiers, and now, it has worked out a deal with a global provider of Wi-Fi hotspots in order to give customers even more options when traveling abroad.
Via the AT&T Wi-Fi International App, AT&T customers traveling abroad can now gain access to hundreds of thousands of Fon international hotspots. In turn, Fon network members will gain access to AT&T's Wi-Fi network, which includes more than 30,000 hotspots at popular restaurants, hotels, bookstores and retailers throughout the United States. The agreement covers smartphones and other Wi-Fi-enabled devices, which will connect seamlessly to select hotspots in both the AT&T and Fon networks. The only major catch here is that it's not quite free to all AT&T users; you'll still need to be on a 300MB or 800MB AT&T Data Global Add-On package, and if you are, you're only eligible to utilize 1GB of Fon hotspot data each month.
Still, it's a step in the right direction. Hopefully, as hotspots pop up in more places and the backhaul can be thrown back to fiber lines instead of fragile mobile towers, providing this kind of access for travelers will become even cheaper.
Via the AT&T Wi-Fi International App, AT&T customers traveling abroad can now gain access to hundreds of thousands of Fon international hotspots. In turn, Fon network members will gain access to AT&T's Wi-Fi network, which includes more than 30,000 hotspots at popular restaurants, hotels, bookstores and retailers throughout the United States. The agreement covers smartphones and other Wi-Fi-enabled devices, which will connect seamlessly to select hotspots in both the AT&T and Fon networks. The only major catch here is that it's not quite free to all AT&T users; you'll still need to be on a 300MB or 800MB AT&T Data Global Add-On package, and if you are, you're only eligible to utilize 1GB of Fon hotspot data each month.
Still, it's a step in the right direction. Hopefully, as hotspots pop up in more places and the backhaul can be thrown back to fiber lines instead of fragile mobile towers, providing this kind of access for travelers will become even cheaper.
