Boingo Roaming into Tokyo

Boingo Wireless announced a roaming agreement with livedoor Co. Ltd., to add the company’s central Tokyo Wi-Fi network to their 60,000 global hotspot collection. This agreement marks the second Asian hot zone to join the Boingo Roaming System the first was citywide WIFLY network in Taipei, which added in July 2006. According to the press release livedoor’s network covers 80% of the outdoor area located within the Yamanote Line with thousands of power-pole mounted access points.

“livedoor is a leader in wireless networking technology housed in a nation that is among the most tech-savvy in the world,” said Allen Pan, Boingo Director of Asia-Pacific. “Partnering with them gives us access to one of the most innovative and comprehensive metro Wi-Fi build outs in the world which will provide our customers with ubiquitous coverage throughout Tokyo.”

No details on price plans although the current standard package offered by Livedoor Wireless requires a one time set-up fee of ¥1,000 and monthly un-limited access is ¥500. The “power-pole mounted access points” mentioned also reminded us of this WWJ video interview with MIS in July of 2002.