Skype Zones - unlimited wifi for £4.20 a month

Update: Yeah, this is total bollocks unfortunately. Check out this post for the update.

Link: Introducing Skype Zones – Skype in United Kingdom

Ever tried logging onto the net in a public hotspot? If so, the cost may have surprised you. That’s ‘surprised” as in ‘made you snort food out your nose in horror”. At around £6 an hour, hotspots look like a very bad deal indeed compared with internet cafes that rarely charge more than £1 a pop.

Skype is helping to bridge the gap with Skype Zones, a beta service that allows you to access Skype and make calls from your own laptop in more than 18,000 Skype-friendly hotspots around the world, including 8,000-odd in the UK. The fees – just $2.95 (£1.60) for two hours or $7.95 (£4.20) unlimited for a whole month – put other commercial WiFi services to shame.

So the unlimited wifi account which I’ve just bought from The Cloud (at £11.99 a month) has now just been eclipsed by the Skype one for less than half the cost. I like it when the market moves fast. Interesting. Looks like Boingo Wireless have obviously done a deal with The Cloud since the hotspot directory is exactly the same — theoretically I can soon use this service to connect in the Blue Boar pub. Slight arse that it only appears to be available for Windows at the moment. I’m sure an Apple one will be forthcoming. (Well spotted Jeremy)