iPass is best known as a corporate aggregator of dial-up, Wi-Fi, and hotel Ethernet service, but they've moved into the mainstream today, with a new roaming service that directly competes with Boingo Wireless's individual roaming plans. iPass offered up four plans from $29.95 to $84.95 for all comers, although they expect mostly business travelers to sign up. iPass has 95,000 hotspots in their aggregated network worldwide, along with dial-up in nearly 90 countries.

The plans are split into North American service and global service: you can buy unlimited North American dial-up, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi, or the global version of same, and add U.S.-only unlimited 3G on top. North American Wi-Fi is $29.95 per month, while global service runs $44.95 per month. Add U.S. 3G to either plan for $40 per month additional ($69.95 and $84.95, if you'd rather not do the math).

The 3G option uses a domestic EVDO network, and requires an iPass-branded PC Card. The connection software for any of the four plans requires Windows XP, 2000, or Vista. (A Mac version and USB or ExpressCard adapters may come in the future.)

For travelers who lusted after the ubiquity of 3G, and settled for Wi-Fi where available, the $40 add-on for unlimited 3G with the extra benefit of having access to dial-up service when that's the only option for connectivity--especially outside of the U.S.--makes the pricing and set of services particularly attractive.

Carriers charge $60 to $80 per month for unlimited 3G, typically requiring a 2-year commitment and a voice plan for the best price. iPass's 3G card runs $125 (including shipping and handling), and has a 1-year term, with a $100 early-cancellation penalty. Wi-Fi service purchased by itself is month to month, with no cancellation fee.

Previously, Boingo Wireless--with about 100,000 hotspots in its global network--had the best deal by far for coverage and cost, with a $21.95 domestic and $39 global plan. iPass aces Boingo slightly at the moment by including all the T-Mobile Starbucks hotspot locations, which aren't included in other aggregated network footprints. By this fall, most Starbucks will be under AT&T's operation, and AT&T has reseller agreements with Boingo, iPass, and many other roaming aggregators.

The immediate benefit of the end of the high-definition DVD format war--spoiler: Sony's Blu-ray won--is that you'll be able to cram much higher density optical storage into a laptop or computer without worrying about obsolescence. Blu-ray can store up to about 50 gigabytes on a dual-layer disc, as well as handle playback that will look perfectly fantastic on a typical computer monitor.

Dell aims to move Blu-ray into the mainstream by offering it as an option on their Inspiron 1525 entry-level laptop line. Here's the rub, however: Dell's press release says that you can get a 1525 with Blu-ray "playback starting at $879." That's true: you get a CD/DVD burner that can play Blu-ray videos and read Blu-ray discs for $250 above the cost of a CD/DVD burner.

Should you want the whole megilla, however, it's a $450 premium to get a CD/DVD/Blu-ray burner--40 percent of the cost of the $1,079 base model with that feature and no other extras. (They've crammed a lot of lasers in that disk.) The cost will plummet this year, but if you absolutely, positively need to burn up to 50 GB at time (at a cost of about $35 per blank disc), you don't have to get a premium laptop to match the premium drive.

Many people have a fear of flying--not a fear of the actual flight (or its lack of success), but a fear of being disconnected from the skein of communications that we now have ubiquitously on the ground. Fear begone! We're about to enter a new age of business travel, in which our ground-based devices work as effectively above 10,000 feet in the air as at ground level.

Aircell announced today that their national air-to-ground in-flight network, called "gogo," was ready for action. The company, which won critical spectrum licenses in an auction in mid-2006, has signed American Airlines for a 15-plane cross-country trial and Virgin America for its entire fleet. You'll use Wi-Fi to connect. Service will cost about $10 for hops of 3 hours or less and $13 for cross-country flights, although some partnerships with aggregators are planned, as well as a frequent-flyer unlimited monthly service. (Alaska, JetBlue, and Southwest will deploy or test other systems.)

If you've been nearing the end of a telephone contract and were considering which new BlackBerry or other smartphone to buy, make sure you get one with Wi-Fi built-in if you're a frequent flyer. BlackBerry keeps spitting out more Wi-Fi-enabled models, partly to assuage enterprise users who wanted faster speeds on their own networks, and Apple's EDGE/Wi-Fi iPhone is selling in the millions.

You won't be able to use cell services on planes--not even for text messaging or email--at this point. In Europe and Asia, by contrast, mobile calling and texting will be all that's offered initially. Emirates airline went live with mobile access on a single plane recently, and RyanAir is adding service to its entire fleet.

Time is money, but money is also money. Welcome to my attempt to sort out those two factors for you, whether you're working out of your home, or part of a small to medium sized business - that's SOHO (small office/home office) and SMB (small/medium business) to the abbreviation inclined.

In this blog, I'll survey hardware as it emerges from manufacturers to highlight the best and most efficient ways to meet your needs. As the blog evolves, I hope you'll let me know what you'd like to know more about--we aim to please.

I've been working as a journalist for nearly 15 years, and have focused closely on Wi-Fi since 2001 on my own blog, Wi-Fi Networking News, and publications like The New York Times and the Economist magazine. I've also tracked cellular wireless closely, as well as hardware intended for networks and offices.

Linksys will offer Trend Micro's ProtectLink Gateway to help smaller businesses ward off spam, phishing, and viruses, while allowing control over what sites are visiting, including blocking of known unsafe sites.

The subscription service, which costs $149.99 per year for five users or $614.99 per year for 25 users, examines incoming email for typical problems, such as spam, phishing messages, spyware, viruses, and other malicious content. Trend Micro also maintains databases of known malicious sites that could otherwise install malware, and blocks access. Businesses can also choose custom filters for restricting access.

AT&T has started offering the RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8120, a substantially improved replacement for the Pearl 8100. The earlier model suffered from several problems, including locating the Micro SD card slot behind the battery, which had to be removed to swap cards; a non-standard headphone jack, and EDGE-only data service.
The 8120 relocated the Micro SD slot to the side of the phone for easy access, swapped in a standard 3.5 mm headset/headphone jack for the 2.5 mm one found in the 8100, and added Wi-Fi as a connection option. The new phone also ups the camera resolution from 1.3 megapixels (MP) to 2 MP.