My local Toronto ISP, Interlog, which I loyally stick with
long after I no longer live anywhere near Toronto,
as much from sentimental reasons as to prevent broken
links to my useless webpage, has just told me:
> 3) GLOBAL ROAMING COMING SOON
>Interlog will be joining the IPass alliance. This will provide all
>Interlog subscribers with low cost access to world-wide global roaming.
>Thus, when traveling you will have access to the Internet via a local
>number. Local access will be available in the U.S., Canada, Europe and
>Asia. Further details will be announced shortly.
So of course I check out www.ipass.com.
|Get Local-Call Access From Wherever You Are!
|We have great news for telecommuters, domestic and international
|travelers! There is a cost-effective and simple way to access the
|Internet with a local call from wherever you are in the world.
Oh, you want some details? Sure....
|How iPass Works
|
|Your ISP or company will provide you with the iPass Dial Wizard to
|install on your laptop. This is a simple client software tool that
|contains an international phone book of iPass access numbers.
|
|Anywhere you travel, point and click with the iPass Dial Wizard to
|connect to a local Internet access number. Log in with the same user
|ID and password that you usually use, but include your domain name
|after your user ID (e.g. yourname@domain).
|
|When you dial into any of the worldwide iPass access numbers, you
|are actually still logging into your ISP or corporate account, even
|though you are dialing in through a different Internet service provider.
|iPass provides the service that enables this to happen. Once
|connected, you use your regular web browser or e-mail program.
|
|Technically Speaking
|The events that occur when you dial into an access point and get
|connected to your home Internet account are transparent to you and
|happen instantly. However, if you were able to watch the entire
|process in slow motion, this is what you would see:
|
|You log into a local iPass access point (remote ISP).
|The remote ISP recognizes that your login attempt is not from
|one of its own subscribers.
|The remote ISP's server encrypts your user name and password
|and passes it securely to an iPass server.
|The iPass server forwards the encrypted authentication
|information to your company's authentication server or your
|home ISP's server.
|Your home ISP or company server returns a yes or no to allow
|or disallow your connection.
|After receiving authorization, the remote ISP connects you.
|At the end of your session, the remote ISP passes information
|regarding the length of your session to the iPass server.
|iPass pays the remote ISP for the time you used its service.
|iPass bills your organization or ISP for your use of the service.
|If you used this service directly through an ISP, the ISP bills
|you for the use of the service.
Hey, well that's pretty neat. Not only could it solve a real logistical
hassle for me (i.e. getting reliable connectivity in bizarre places
like Recife Brazil and Haifa Israel), but it looks a bit like our
world of the future. Y'know, lots of little guys ganging up to do what the
big guys can do? As in lots of little local ISPs brokering services
for each other, so you're not forced into the monolith hands
of AT&T or MSN or AOL, if you're a world traveller.
They're also doing Internet telephony as a little-guy-partnership.
Oooh, overtones of munchkins, perhaps?
http://www.ipass.com/services/telephony.html
|iPass Joins Forces with ITXC
|
|ITXC (Internet Telephony eXchange Carrier) offers the
|communications industry wholesale access to and settlement of
settlement? they said settlement. Sounds like ching-ching to me.
| Internet Protocol (IP)-based telephone calls.
Looking forward to more details from Interlog on this one.
Ron.