FreedomPop, a startup that has cut its teeth selling “free” mobile voice and data services to cost-conscious consumers, is expanding into the WiFi-only world with a plan that sells for $5 per month.

Billed as an LTE alternative that allows customers to auto-connect to hotspots that are part of FreedomPop’s WiFi network, the new plan, which offers unlimited voice, text and data, is getting off the ground with a network that spans 10 million hotspots, including an undisclosed number that have been deployed by cable operators.  

Of that total, roughly 8 million are “premium” hotspots, meaning they are closed and require credentials before connectivity is allowed, Stephen Stokols, FreedomPop’s CEO, said, noting that FreedomPop’s new WiFi-facing app will authenticate subscribers to those participating networks.

FreedomPop’s new app and its auto-connection capabilities will initially be available via Google Play for Android devices, but hopes to work with Apple to make iOS devices work seamlessly on its aggregated WiFi network.

And FreedomPop is in the process of expanding its aggregated WiFi network. Stokols said he expects 30 million to 50 million hotspots on the FreedomPop network to be auto-connectable within about six months.

“We’re trying to aggregate the aggregators,” he said.  “We’re trying to transfer the value of these networks to the consumer directly.”

FreedomPop isn’t identifying whose WiFi networks are being aggregated, but Stokols acknowledged that the company’s current network does include hotspots that have been deployed by MSOs.

In the U.S., cable operator members of the “Cable WiFi” roaming alliance – Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Cablevision Systems and Bright House Networks – have deployed more than 300,000 hotspots in businesses and other indoor and outdoor public venues. Charter Communications has said it intends to join that group. Comcast and Cablevision, meanwhile, have begun to introduce secondary SSID signals in millions of home-side gateways that are accessible by their respective broadband subscribers.

Early on, those operators have been using their WiFi networks primarily as a free perk for residential cable modem subscribers, but FreedomPop’s approach could provide them with a new way to monetize them.

FreedomPop, Stokols said, see a large potential market for its new WiFi-only product. Potential customers in the low-hanging fruit category include consumers who want to wring value out of older Android phones that are no longer attached to a cellular service. This “plus-one” scenario, for example, could provide parents with an inexpensive way to provide a connected device to their children. Stokols estimates that there are about 200 million abandoned phones that fit the category.

He also sees the model appealing to consumers on a tight budget or those who can’t afford cellular services. Stokols said WiFi product could also give FreedomPop a way to eat into the prepaid smartphone market.

Because FreedomPop’s WiFi product is unlimited, the company expects to eat some margin on a small set of users who gobble up lots of data, but believes the anticipated consumption patterns of most customers will make the business model work.

“As wireless carriers like Verizon and AT&T commit billions to build LTE networks, companies like Google and Comcast are investing in Wi-Fi-based networks to deliver mobile data access to consumers at a lower cost,” Steven Sesar, FreedomPop’s COO, said in a statement. “Now FreedomPop is the first mobile carrier to offer access to the largest nationwide Wi-Fi network with talk, text and data, giving cash strapped consumers an alternative to high priced LTE data plans, or a way to simply cut down on their cellular data usage.”

Last fall, FreedomPop launched its own brand of Android-powered products that carry sub-$100 price point, complementing the company's distribution of refurbished Sprint devices.  Those products come with FreedomPop’s free text and voice service – up to 200 voice minutes and 500 texts per month before tiered pricing plans apply.

Comcast’s metro WiFi initiative got a lift this week when the operations and maintenance of PATCO’s board endorsed a proposal from the MSO to provide WiFi coverage in all 13 PATCO stations in Philadelphia and New Jersey.

The board will vote on the proposal at its January 21 meeting. If approved, Comcast said it expects to wrap up the project by summer. The resulting network will be offered for free to authenticated Comcast subscribers and to non-subs who register with an email address and accept the service’s terms of use.

PATCO said it’s been working with Comcast on the design of the proposed WiFi system for “several months."

Comcast also provides Xfinity WiFi at transit stations operated by SEPTA and NJ Transit. Comcast’s WiFi network currently covers more than 8 million hotspots, though a significant portion of those are coming way of in-home routers that are emitting a secondary “xfinitywifi” SSID.

“We’re committed to improving our customers’ experience. We have listened to our customers and know that staying connected is important. This demonstrates our commitment to provide the amenities our customers want,” said John Hanson, president of PATCO and CEO of the Delaware River Port Authority,PATCO’s parent company, in a statement.  “WiFi also means enhancement of real time communication to our customers via social media and email travel alerts.”

“We’re excited the Operations and Maintenance Committee of PATCO’s Board selected Comcast and we’re delighted to provide fast, reliable WiFi access to PATCO customers,” added Amalia O’Sullivan, VP of Xfinity Internet, Comcast Cable. “Access to Xfinity WiFi at their train platforms will enable our customers and non-customers alike the ability to surf the net, stream videos and communicate with family and friends for no additional fee thereby saving them money on their wireless bills.” 

Wifi Forward says the FCC needs to free up more unlicensed wireless if the Obama Administration's ConnectED goals of getting WiFi to every classroom and high-speed Internet to 99% of students is to be met.

In a paper presented Wednesday, the group said that educators needed to get behind the following recommendations: Getting gigabit WiFi access to more unlicensed spectrum in the 5 GHz band; FCC action to free up more spectrum in the 600 MHz broadcast bands--soon to be broadcast/wireless bands; and "reasonable rules" for spectrum sharing in the 3.5 GHz band.

Wifi Forward is a broad-based coalition whose members include the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, Microsoft, the Consumer Electronics Association,  Motorola and Google. Cable ops have increasingly seen WiFi as their mobile broadband play, with hundreds of thousands of hot spots allowing their subs broadband access on the go.

Broadcasters have been pushing back on an FCC effort to free up more unlicensed spectrum in the 600 MHz band as part of the incentive auction framework, arguing it risks adding increased interference to the dislocation of the auction repacking regime.

"[D]emand is likely to outstrip supply of unlicensed spectrum in the near future, causing congestion on local school networks," Wifi Forward said. "If the Obama Administration’s ConnectED goals are met, K-12 schools are expected to demand around 56 terabits per second (Tbps) by the 2017-2018 school year – 6 times larger than the current capacity of the ultra-high speed research and education network, Internet2."

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has proposed revamping and increasing the E-rate schools and libraries subsidy to focus more on high-speed deployment and wireless connectivity, rather than simply access to broadband.

The White House has also said that effort is essential to the ConnectED goals 

The FCC is scheduled to vote on the E-rate proposal at its Dec. 11 meeting.

Introducing an initiative that could complement and possibly compete with cable’s own WiFi plans, New York City and a group of partners have set their sights on an ambitious plan to develop and deploy a free, ad-supported WiFi network that will reach parts of all five boroughs.  

The city claimed that the coming “LinkNYC” network, which will be launched next year and “say goodbye to the payphone,” will be built at no cost to taxpayers, as it will be funded by advertising revenues. Among other claims, LinkNYC is targeting revenues of more than $500 million over the next 12 years, and will create 100 to 150 new full-time jobs in areas such as manufacturing, technology and advertising. 

Construction of the network will begin next year, with the first structures expected to become operational by the end of 2015. The service will run on up to 10,000 “Links,” kiosks that will provide 24/7 Internet access with “up to gigabit speeds,” programmable digital displays that show advertising and public service announcements, an integrated Android tablet with a directional speaker and microphone, and a tactile keyboard and Braille lettering with a dedicated 911 button, USB charger, and headphone jack.

According to the plan, the LinkNYC network will provide free WiFi, free phone calls to anywhere in the U.S., serve as a free charging station, and handle “seamless roaming” between Links. Time Warner Cable, which is building its own WiFi network in NYC, is also looking to add cellular-like connectivity between hotspots through its adoption of Passpoint/Hotspot 2.0.  

Update: A TWC official said the MSO has deployed almost 16,000 WiFi hotspots in NYC to date. 

LinkNYC comes way of a public/private partnership between the Mayor’s Office of Technology and Innovation, the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, and a consortium called CityBridge.

Members of CityBridge include Titan, a muni-focused media company that will oversee LinkNYC’s operations and manage the advertising program; Control Group, a user experience/design firm; Qualcomm, the chip giant; Comark, on board to design and manufacturer the citywide “Links” in a way that makes them durable and reliable; Transit Wireless, which will handle LinkNYC’s fiber infrastructure; and Antenna Design, the team responsible for creating the “iconic physical design" of the Link/kiosk. 

Comcast and Liberty Global have struck a WiFi roaming agreement that will allow their respective customers to access millions of hotspots in the U.S. and seven countries in Europe.

The WiFi roaming/peering deal, a first between MSOs that serve customers in the U.S. and abroad, is poised to provide access to more than 10 million hotspots in the early phases – Comcast expects to have 8 million “Xfinity WiFi” hotspots up by year’s end, while Liberty Global expects to have 2.5 million by then under its “Wi-Free” and “WifiSpots” SSID signals in several countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Poland, and Switzerland.  

Comcast and Liberty Global, which uses a client-based WiFi authentication and security system, expect to trial the shared WiFi service later this year and offer it broadly in 2015.

Hotspots that are part of the Comcast/Liberty Global partnership include those that are deployed in outdoor venues, in select business locations, and in an increasing number of wireless gateways deployed in customer homes. The latter set-up, sometimes referred to “community hotspots” or “home-as-hotspot,” has been popular in Europe for years, but is now starting to take hold in the U.S. with operators such as Comcast and Cablevision Systems.

Liberty Global and Comcast said they plan to “continue to grow their WiFi footprints aggressively.”  Cable operators have historically used WiFi as a free perk for their broadband customers. The new pact will give millions of Liberty Global and Comcast customers the ability to connect for free when they are in the presence of the MSOs' WiFi network and reduce the need to hook into cellular networks that are typically subject to small data caps before overage charges apply. Liberty Global and Comcast estimate that the deal will provide such an alternative to the 11 million Americans who visit Europe and 12 million Europeans who come to the U.S. each year.

According to Tom Nagel, Comcast’s SVP of strategic initiatives, the roaming deal between the Comcast and Liberty Global is currently on a settlement-free basis, meaning no money is changing hands based on data traffic levels.

“Our expectation is that it [traffic] will be fairly balanced,” Nagel said, noting that the MSOs will give the roaming arrangement some time to operate as settlement-free before coming back to see if some sort of compensation-based model  should be considered.

“We are delighted to join forces with Comcast to begin building worldwide WiFi connectivity and we hope that this will create interest from other cable operators to join us,” said Balan Nair, Liberty Global’s EVP and CTO, in a statement.

In the U.S., the current “Cable WiFi” roaming consortium consists of Comcast, Cablevision, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Communications. Together, they have deployed more than 250,000 quasi-public hotspots that are supported by the WiFi roaming pact.

While the agreement gives Liberty Global broadband subscribers free access to Comcast’s WiFi network, but Comcast has also been testing out a paid model with two Asian carriers – Japan’s KDDI and Taiwan Mobile. In those trials, customers of those Asian carriers have negotiated a per-minute rate when their customers tap into one of Comcast’s hotspots.