Tuesday, July 10th, 2012
Annie Livingston, Marketing
Have you ever taken a 14 hour red-eye only to get off and head straight to a business meeting?
It can be hard, not to mention if you’re flying in Economy Class (aka coach). When I think of a coach, I think of the Queen of England sitting in her royal carriage. However, I definitely don’t feel like I’m getting the royal treatment in coach on an airplane. Crammed into a small seat, you’re forced to become best friends with the person sitting next to you, and make awkward small talk. With the various aromas (bathroom, food, the person next to you…) and sounds (coughing, crying, drumbeats), it can be hard to get comfortable on your flight.
The worst part is the amount of money you are paying for these seats. A nonstop roundtrip ticket from San Francisco to New York City (JFK) runs at about $500 for economy class depending on when you book. So yes, you’re paying for unappealing food, smelly surroundings, and claustrophobic seats. But you’re also paying to travel cross the country – or in the case of the 14 hour flight, to a foreign country. Is that good enough? Does that mean the entire trip was worth it? And now, after being up all night with a hundred or more other people, you’re off to a business meeting. It’s rough.
While we cannot improve all aspects of your flight, we can help with Internet connectivity. iPass Open Mobile allows you to connect with the internet while cruising through the air. Check your email, get some work done, and try and get your mind off of the fellow passenger on your right.
However, some people argue that the plane may be the one place where you can be away from work. So it’s your choice. But remember, you can always chat family and friends, using iPass Open Mobile—it doesn’t have to be work related! (We won’t tell!)
Traveling in economy >>
Friday, July 6th, 2012
Annie Livingston, Marketing
According to a recent article in USA Today, 66% of their readers say they are ok with free hotel Wi-Fi, even if it has a spotty connection. Many hotels offer free Wi-Fi for their customers, but charge if customers want greater bandwidth. Hotels are watching their Internet bills rise quickly as the average data usage per session increased 50% over a nine-month period last year.
Contrary to the readers of CNN, only 33% of mobile workers responding to the iPass Mobile Workforce Survey would stay with the free network and not upgrade to a premium connection.
Hotels are considering having each guest pay per device, which would definitely cause tension among mobile workers. According to the iPass Mobile Workforce Report, over 50% of business travelers use two devices and about 25% use three.
According to iPass’ Hospitality Report, 79% of business travelers return to the same hotel; are the hotels going to benefit from these costs or lose their valued customers? Tell us what you think!
Also, be sure to participate in our most recent Mobile Workforce Report by taking our survey. Enter for the chance to win an iPad!!
Read the USA Today article >>
Take the Mobile Workforce Report Survey >>
How much are you willing to pay for a strong connection? >>
Thursday, July 5th, 2012
Annie Livingston, Marketing
A recent article in BusinessWeek addressed mobile employee productivity, and what they are really doing while “working from home.”
According to a few surveys, many mobile workers admit to watching a movie, taking naps and exercising. However, statistics have shown that not working in a “traditional” office setting actually improves productivity. Why do you think this is? It’s possible that mobile workers feel less pressure working from home in terms of their appearance and work habits allowing them to feel comfortable and accomplish more than they would in an office.
One of the points of mobile working is to accomplish your work tasks among other things in your daily life. Instead of stressing about your conference call running late when you have to pick up your kids from school, mobile workers are able to stay on the call and not disturb coworkers while still being able to pick up their kids on time.
Convenient or a distraction? Let us know how you feel!
Take our Mobile Workforce Report survey and tell us about your work habits!
Read the full BusinessWeek article >>
Pros and cons of mobile workers >>
Wednesday, June 27th, 2012
Annie Livingston, Marketing
Because business travel has been prevalent for a while, you would think hotels would continue to grow with the times and become more accommodating for the average business traveler.
Wrong! Instead, hotels have been focusing more on trendiness and their urban appearance, less about comfort and the utility of accessories in the room. (I think I’ve asked myself, “how do you turn on this lamp?” too many times to count!) We want quick and easy; none of this fancy complicated stuff.
A critical requirement for a hotel to successfully service business travelers is not just internet access , but consistently fast and efficient connectivity -without endless dropped connections! According to iPass’ Hospitality Findings Report, 95% of business travelers want an internet connection, and 63% confirm this access with the hotel prior to booking a room. An article in the Sydney Morning Herald stated that the author would be willing to pay $20 per day for connectivity.
How far are you willing to go to stay connected? Take our Mobile Workforce Survey and let us know!
Read the article from the Sydney Morning Tribune >>
Business travelers and their simple demands >>
Tuesday, June 26th, 2012
Annie Livingston, Marketing
As all of us consume mobile data, the interest in use of public Wi-Fi to help has taken on greater urgency. WBA’s Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) initiative is giving us and many other major operators and vendors, a chance to test innovative new login procedures and simpler connectivity that will help simplify login and support roaming agreements as well as establish relationships with each other so you can have a much wider variety of hotspots available.
The trials we are participating in allow us to test a variety of authentication methods for the growing number of smartphones, as well as SIM-based, for tablets, laptops and legacy phones which cannot support SIM authentication. An end result will be that as many of our customers as possible will have automatic access to hotspots without entering usernames and passwords.
With the latest prediction of a rise from 1.3 million hotspots in 2011 to 5.8 million by 2015, not including “community hotspots” which add another 4.5 million worldwide, the WBA trials and our future deployments of NGH are an exciting opportunity for us.
For more info >>
WBA Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) Initiative Phase 2 Trials >>
