AT&T has added nearly 25,000 new Wi-Fi hotspots in countries across Europe and in China. The new locations bring the total worldwide hotspots available to AT&T users to 125,000, representing a nearly 30% expansion of its global Wi-Fi footprint since the beginning of the year.
According to the company, the additional hotspots will enable AT&T Remote Access enterprise customers to connect to their corporate networks from more locations across Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Croatia, the Netherlands, the UK and China.
These locations reportedly include a variety of coffee shops, bookstores, hotels, airports, restaurants and convention centres. The new China hotspots are already activated, and the European hotspots will be activated over the next 45 days.
Additionally, AT&T has revealed new features planned for the AT&T Global Network Client, the remote access software that allows users to create a virtual private network (VPN) gateway to their corporate enterprises. The company said that the enhancements will include: support for Windows 7, support for connecting to VPNs using IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) endpoints, single installation package for all supported languages and improved support for persons with certain visual disabilities.
AT&T expects to make the AT&T Global Network Client upgrades available in the fourth quarter of 2009. The company added that consumers can access its international hotspot locations with a Wi-Fi Premier plan for $19.99 a month.
Dale McHenry, vice president of AT&T Enterprise Networking, said: “Our global enterprise customers want to ensure that their employees always have highly-secure, reliable connectivity to their corporate applications and the internet wherever they are – without the hassles of hunting down hotspots and credit card pay-as-you-go.
Our extensive global Wi-Fi coverage, central corporate billing, and smart laptop client software keeps their employees focused on doing business and eliminates the hassles of staying connected.”
