stumblelog
BT Openzone, BT FON and the iPhone
O2 have published their new tariff details for upgrading customers using smartphones, and following the trend with carriers in the US and Canada they no longer offer unlimited data as part of any package. As O2 points out however, the 500MB data allowance bundled with the cheapest package is more than enough for the vast majority of users. I’m not concerned that this is going to be a problem.
What I am annoyed about however, is that O2 still claims free access to BT Openzone wifi hotspots is part of the package. Since BT launched their BT FON service, urban areas are now littered with what claim to be BT Openzone hotspots, but in actual fact are BT FON hotspots in disguise, and as such don’t work with O2 smartphones.
Why is this a problem? Well, on an iPhone for example, if you happen to be in the vicinity of such a hotspot, it will recognise the SSID of BT Openzone as one you want to connect to automatically, and connect. It won’t, however, actually work: your browser will redirect you to the login page if you try surfing the web, but worse, other applications that require an Internet connection will fail to connect after a protracted timeout period.
It’s usually only through doing this that I’m aware I’m connected to a bogus hotspot in the first place, and have to manually disconnect and fall back to whatever network coverage I happen to have. As more and more of these BT FON hotspots appear around the country, I’m having to manually ignore each hotspot in turn, or find myself in an effective Internet black hole.
BT’s use of the BT Openzone SSID is an obviously disingenuous attempt to make it appear they have more hotspots than they do. I don’t object to them offering the BT FON service (it’s a neat idea) but it either shouldn’t use the BT Openzone SSID, or it should be included in the wifi networks O2 provides as part of their smartphone packages.
Updated 21st June 2010:
BT have now announced that all BT FON and corresponding BT Openzone wireless hotspots will be available with unlimited access to all O2 mobile customers. Great news.
