BT unifies Wi-Fi, 3G and GPRS

BT Datazone package costs £49 a month

BT is to unify its Wi-Fi, GPRS and 3G services under the banner BT Datazone.

The service is aimed at laptop users with a data card, allowing them to use any of the 30,000 Wi-Fi hotspots accessible through BT Openzone, as well as 3G and GPRS services.

Chris Clark, chief executive for converged mobility operations at BT Retail, said: "Bringing these technologies together means you no longer have to choose one over the other when deciding how to keep your employees connected.

"It also has the benefit of providing companies with tighter cost control over their remote working solutions."

Wi-Fi use is charged by the length of time connected, and mobile services are charged per megabyte downloaded.

BT expects users to use 3G or GPRS services for light use such as email, but then transfer to Wi-Fi zones for large downloads where higher data rates are possible.

The Datazone package costs £49 a month and includes 4,000 minutes of Wi-Fi access via BT Openzone and 75MB of information via 3G or GPRS.