Here's the answer to Neil McIntosh's column on Monday. iPass is a well-known system that lets you use the Internet in almost any country you are likely to visit on business, thanks to deals with overseas ISPs. (GRIC offers a rival "worldwide roaming" system.) So all someone has to do is sign up providers of W-Fi wireless hotspots on the same basis. iPass has been working on this idea, and as CNet reports, it is about to annouce a deal with StayOnline, which has more than 850 hotspots in the US.
I've been using iPass for a couple of years (the Guardian has an account), and it would certainly be useful to be able to access any hotspot in the US or the UK without having to find a different way of paying for it. It would also be useful if organisations such as, say, the AA or RAC or the Institute of Directors or whatever, set up corporate schemes for their members. The Cix mail service, which I use, has a deal with GRIC.
