Kyle's Findings.

Boingo Wireless: what a scam!

I’ve never been a fan of Boingo, but in many airports they are the only WiFi option. I recently had several hours to kill while waiting at LaGuardia, so I decided to cough up the $7.95 fee for 24 hours of access. I was online for roughly two hours, then powered off my laptop for a few minutes (I mistakenly thought my plane was boarding).

When our plane got delayed further, I turned my laptop back on and reconnected to Boingo’s WiFi. And as I found out after receiving my credit card statement, Boingo charges you $7.95 each time you connect, even when it’s from the same airport and within 24 hours.

When I looked at my credit card statement, I just assumed I was erroneously billed twice. Simple mistake, so I emailed Boingo to ask about it being reversed. Their reply:

For clarity, we mention the pricing structure of Boingo AsYouGo when customers sign up. Here it is again for your reference: “Enjoy Boingo Wi-Fi for the next 24 hours at this hotspot for just $7.95. Future connections will be billed at just $7.95 per connection at individual hotspots within North and South America, $9.95 per connection at individual hotspots in Asia/Pacific, and $19.95 per connection at individual hotspots in Europe, Middle East, and Africa.”

Let’s read that again, with the important part emphasized:

Enjoy Boingo Wi-Fi for the next 24 hours at this hotspot for just $7.95. Future connections will be billed at just $7.95 per connection …

In short, Boingo charges you another $7.95 each time you re-connect. The customer service representative was nice enough to point out that both the Welcome Email and the Boingo Customer Agreement mention this fact.

I suppose it’s my fault for misinterpreting their cloudy terms of use. But I think Boingo is intentionally misleading people by advertising “Unlimited WiFi for 24 hours for $7.95” and then charging (without notice) for each subsequent connection.

After a few more emails back and forth, I got the second charge refunded. But it makes me wonder how many other people are being taken advantage of by Boingo’s shady pricing structure. Sure, it’s only $7.95, but multiplied by a few thousand customers and it’s a significant amount of money Boingo has dishonestly leeched.

I’d love to see more airports follow Edmonton’s lead and offer free WiFi. It would help make companies like Boingo obsolete.