Should you rule iPass out?

Internet connections are important to Deborah Rollins, and if you could see where she lives, you’d understand why.

For eight months out of the year, Rollins resides on a boat-never too far offshore, usually within U.S. waters, but frequently relying on a cellular phone to connect to the Internet. “I’m in constant search of the perfect Internet connection with which I can primarily upload and download e-mail with occasional ‘live’ Internet time,” she says.

There’s good news and bad news for travelers like her. The good news is that Internet service providers do offer the kind of worldwide remote access she’s looking for. The bad news is that the choices are few and getting fewer and that the costs are high and, perhaps, getting higher.

Road warriors like Rollins can choose between two basic options: a proprietary network such as America Online that gives her access to a limited global dial-up network. Or she can pick a more open system like iPass, which offers access to a network of more than 14,000 access numbers in 150 countries. Next week I’ll discuss the pros and cons of using AOL on the road, but today let’s take a look at the iPass model and find out if it’s right for you.

Jeff Edwards, a reader of this column who travels extensively in Asia and lives in Thailand, is pleased with iPass. “In the even that I can’t get though to the local Internet service provider, I use iPass,” he says. “It lists the prices of the various service providers they use in their dial-up manager, and I only pay the local phone charges from the hotel.”

Indeed, iPass has created an impressive network of dial-up and broadband connections. In late September, it announced a blockbuster deal with wireless and high-speed access provider Wayport to give its customers access to 420 Wayport locations, which include wireless access throughout all gates and terminals in airports and hotel common areas, plus in-room access in about 100,000 hotel guestrooms. It’s also extended its network to China, Australia, and parts of Europe that are typically underserved by other networks.

Ready to sign up for iPass? Wait a second.

Unless you are an employee of a large company, you’ll get referred to an iPass “Solution Partner” – basically, a reseller – that will offer you iPass at a markup. One reseller, Net Roamer, charges 25 cents per minute plus a $5 monthly administrative fee. Another, i2roam, bills you based the local number you call with iPass. Most U.S. numbers are charged at a rate of $2.97 per hour, or 4.9 cents per minute.

Some travelers would happily pay these rates for connectivity. Trouble is, prices might be on the upswing. iPass is thought to be preparing to go public and has been clamping down on its network members with higher quotas intended to weed out underperforming Internet service providers, according to one insider I spoke with. These actions will almost certainly drive prices higher, making Rollins’ goal unaffordable to many travelers, my source believes.

I’m not convinced that rates will go through the roof – I think they’re pricey to begin with – but I’m concerned that another result of the iPass strategy is that the network could shrink. Already, the iPass network contains several unfortunate gaps, including parts of the Caribbean and Middle East. If the quotas tighten further as the date of its stock offering nears, there’s no telling how much the iPass network could recede by.

Finally, there’s the Windows ME problem. The iPass dialer, which must be downloaded from its website to access the network, doesn’t like Windows ME for some reason. When I tried to install it, the program simply refused to work. The iPass service department insisted that this was the first time they’d experienced this problem, but I later learned that the dialer and ME haven’t played nice together for other users as well. The iPass dialer apparently reacts to corrupted system files in Windows, but can be fixed by repairing your registry.

iPass is far from perfect, but if you’re on the road a lot, you shouldn’t rule it out. As you’ll see in next week’s column, the most popular alternative to iPass is a network that offers considerably less functionality for travelers and is, in many respects, vastly inferior.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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