Boingo Wireless Inc., a provider of software and services worldwide, announced the release of a powerful new version of its easy-to-use Wi-Fi app.
Boingo's new "Wi-Finder" app not only logs customers onto more than 325,000 commercial hotspots around the globe with a single click, it also helps anyone find and connect to hundreds of thousands of free and open Wi-Fi networks worldwide. The app includes the ability to search for paid or free networks and presents search results on a map. Boingo Wi-Finder is immediately available for Windows and Macintosh laptops, Android smartphones, and iOS devices.
"Our goal has always been to make getting connected to Wi-Fi easy," said Dawn Callahan, vice president of consumer marketing. "With the proliferation of free Wi-Fi networks, we want to extend our charter to ensure that no matter what type of Wi-Fi network folks run across, Boingo can help them get connected simply and easily."
Boingo Wi-Finder helps solve the problem of getting connected to Wi-Fi when there are multiple Wi-Fi signals in one place. Through advanced connection logic, Wi-Finder identifies available networks and automatically connects a user to the best signal. The app's logic also includes the ability to accept a network's terms of service on the user's behalf on a one-time or recurring basis to expedite connections to open networks.
The updated app includes location-mapping functions that allow users to search for Wi-Fi hotspots to make it easy to find any available hotspot, whether looking for hotspots nearby or in another city. The results will show both commercial Boingo hotspots and free hotspots in proximity with different color pins to differentiate the two types of hotspots.
The current Wi-Finder app requires Internet access via Wi-Fi or 3G/4G to perform search functions, but future versions will include offline mapping capability.
Wi-Finder also includes a full complement of backend services to constantly improve on the quality of the hotspots presented to users. When an open network is discovered, the app will automatically log basic network details like location (latitude/longitude), whether attempted connection succeeded or failed, and network quality (speed/throughput). This data will be returned to a central database and used to populate additional open networks in the mapping tool. Based on Boingo's installed base of app users, who will receive the Wi-Finder update in coming weeks, this crowdsourcing effort has the potential to result in thousands or millions of extra hotspots identified and mapped for Wi-Finder users.
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