Boingo
 

I'm surprised I haven't seen any threads or comments about Boingo on FlyerTalk but does anyone here (still) use them and, if so, what do you think about them?

Since a lot of airports have free WiFi nowadays -- and you can get free WiFi at just about every airport lounge -- I don't see Boingo offered as much as I used to but I still run across a few places when I travel that require a Boingo login. In theory, with the number of hotspots Boingo has not only in the US but all over the world, a Boingo membership would seem to be worth it but recently I have been hearing a few complaints that Boingo service now "sucks". I was wondering if anyone here has had any recent experience with them, good or bad, and would they recommend signing up.

Also, I am thinking about switching to T-Mobile US and I understand that T-Mobile had some sort of partnership with Boingo. However, looking online and it seems that all the information is dated pre-2012. I am wondering if T-Mobile users can still signup for free Boingo service.

Any answers or information?

It's free now with Amex Plat. And largely irrelevant since most people have LTE connections they can tether on their phones.

I have it installed for auto log-on and find it helpful in Schipol where my iPhone seems to want to prefer the slow networks. I also have iPhone international and don't have tethering because of this. I am certainly finding more value from my free Boingo than TravelerMSY.

TMobile has a partnership with GoGo, not Boingo.

But LTE still is not "everywhere" and even when it technically is available in an area, you still need a phone that supports whatever radio band the LTE is using plus either a roaming agreement or SIM that supports it. Just because you have an LTE-compatible phone does not mean that you can use the LTE in the area you may be in. WiFi still has its advantages.

Thank you for the information about AMEX Platinum. I am not looking for another credit card but it is good to know that Boingo WiFi is still being promoted/supported by at least one third-party out there

Thanks, I will give it a shot.

By the way, at one time T-Mobile did have some sort of partnership with Boingo (see http://www.boingo.com/press-releases...-mobile-usa-2/) but I guess it is no longer in effect. Seems like a great thing to continue, especially with T-Mobile now offering free WiFi calling, but then again I can see a reason why Boingo would want to discontinue the relationship if they feared that T-Mobile VoIP traffic would overwhelm their infrastructure. I doubt if that would be the case but it's just speculation on my part any way. Hey, what can you do ...

I've seen LTE connections slow to a crawl in a busy airport. T-Mobile and Verizon are pretty quick in LGA, but when you've got so many people using their phones for high content activities, it will bog down their networks too. The best I've been able to manage on T-Mobile in LGA is about 6 Mb down (oddly 12 up), and less than that on Verizon. The benefit for Boingo, is that once you're on one of their nodes, it is pretty stable. They seemed to have fixed the bandwidth issues they had at LGA from last year.

I'd rather use my hotspot connection than pay for the service, but at the moment, Boingo simply works better.

Really? Type "Boingo" in the search box, and tons of threads show up.

Most of them are pretty old, so let's just make this one the New Official Boingo Thread.

I doubt a VOIP codec would overwhelm the system. The GSM codec it pretty narrowband.

In addition to using the Boingo client, if you have an iOS device, install the Passpoint Certificate.

https://nghtrial.boingo.com

I previously had no use for them because between international roaming on LTE and free hotspots at airports and free with status at a lot of hotels I figured it wasn't the bother.

I picked up the Amex deal and used it for the first time on a trip to Berlin and in Asia and wow - I didn't know what I didn't know.

The "free" wifi that you get at hotels is usually painfully slow and most of the time useless for anything serious. I was about to write of the wireless at I think was the Swissotel and decided to try Boingo just to see how it works since the hotel also supported it.

Wow, the speed went from barely 1mbit and choppy to 15mbit and smoking fast. Same wireless, same SSID, they obviously have different allocations for the pay services, which makes perfect sense.

Since they I've had the same experience in a bunch of international hotels, the free diamond level wifi offered to status people was lukewarm and the pay server via Boingo was smoking fast.

So, I never had it a care for years but now I'm a believer.

Hmm, they seem to offer plans only for the Americas it says on their web site.

Just how common is it though? I remember looking at maps of it a few years ago for some smaller towns around Lake Como and you'd have to venture out to some public square to get the signal, according to their maps.

They have other plans. They just show there most popular consumer plans on their front page. Try here: http://www.boingo.com/retail/boingo-wi-fi-plans/

As for Lake Como (near Milan, Italy?), they still don't seem to have anything but it looks like they have about 100 hotspots near Milan, Italy itself. That is, if the Lake Como you are referring to is the one near Milan, Italy. :D

I use it at RDU because the free wifi is nearly unusable. Boingo works a lot better.

I also find myself using it at JFK and the Chicago Airports as they still don't have free Wifi.

Since December, I have traveled in six countries and across 3 US States, and stayed in countless hotel rooms. Boingo only worked for me once, and then for a few seconds, at LAX. Otherwise the freely offered internet was easier and faster.

That's one more time than I got it to work, and two fewer countries.