Boingo is taking on a pretty ambitious goal, to establish a worldwide network of wi-fi hotspots, accessible through one monthly membership fee. They’re mostly located at airports, hotels, as well as coffee shops and cafes, making them very convenient for frequent or business travelers, of if they’re available at your favorite local venue. But how is the service for the price?
Overview
You may not like Boingo because before they came along wi-fi was free in places like airports, Starbucks, and McDonald’s. Now you can’t log on to places like these anymore because they make you sign up with a Boingo account. Perhaps one day Google will set up its own network of free to use hotspots, but until then you’re left with the choice of not connecting, or paying to connect with Boingo and paying for either a 24 hour pass, or a recurring monthly membership.
The Claim
Boingo claims to be the largest wi-fi network in the world, and they do this not necessarily by operating their own hotspots, but by adding already existing points to their network. They also claim that you don’t have to enter into a contract to use their service, and that you can cancel at any time.
The Hype
The hype is that if you don’t have a Boingo membership, you end up seeing Boingo hotspots all over the place. They definitely have an extensive network, but unless you frequent a place that’s on their grid you might not get enough use out of it to justify the cost.
The Cost
The cost is one of the more attractive features of the Boingo service. It’s just $10 a month, and right now they’re even running a half-off promo for the first three months so you can try it out basically for a full 3 months for $15 and if you like it you can stay on for just $10 a month after that.
The Commitment
Trying to find a Boingo hotspot is sometimes harder than you would think. The mapping service that it has is not exactly pinpoint perfect so it can be a little frustrating. Once you’re signed on though the quality of the connection has been described as ranging from really bad to really good, which can require a bit of patience and tolerance on your part, which can be hard to muster when you’re already stressed from traveling.
Evaluation
Taking a trip abroad is the ultimate test for a Boingo membership, and just being able to use it in a few select locations would definitely be worth the cost of having it. It’s almost cheap enough to just sign on for a monthly membership and forget about it, using it when the situation presents itself. For example, a one-day pass is &7.95 so it’s only a few dollars more for an entire month of service. Rather than paying as you go it’s seems a lot less hassle and potential expense to just go monthly.
However, in this economy you want to get value for your dollar, so it’s really a matter of the coverage area meeting your needs, and the service providing fast enough speeds to get to the pages you want to visit, and make the calls you need to make. Unfortunately trying it out first hand is the only sure review method.
Common Complaints
Users have expressed plenty of displeasure from unsubscribing from Boingo, and say it’s next to impossible to cancel the service. One user even said that she is resorting to disputing the charges through her credit card company, but it will be hard for her to do that since she willfully signed up. Apparently several people say this is a scam because they make it easy to get started but hard to terminate service.
Also, many people have said that the service is spotty, is slow when you actually can find a hotspot, and will charge your account if you inadvertently get logged onto their network as you pass through. This latter complaint is likely for the one-day service, and not a monthly plan.
Final Boingo Review
For the price, we would say that it can’t hurt to give Boingo a try, especially if you have a trip planned in the near future. However, keep in mind that several users have said in no uncertain terms that they don’t make it easy to un-enroll, so just be prepared, and contact their customers service well in advance to avoid any delays or additional payments.
Our Recommendation
We recommend trying out Boingo because of its low price. Only by seeing how the hotspots work for your location and phone will you be able to make up your mind of whether to keep it or not. Their already low price per month is on a %50 promo right now so you can get started with it on the cheap, and only stay on if it makes sense to.
Stationed overseas, have this trash as my only option, absolute dumpster fire, this company should be sued and put out of business. Just plane shit.
Boingo is used on almost all military bases. Shit drops 24/7 its $60 a month for slow af speeds. you can pay the same price for internet that is easily 4x faster.
Piece of garbage. Wasted money upgrading it, don’t buy. Now I’m spending the time meant for using the “upgraded” internet to spread as many bad reviews about Boingo as possible because it’s actually a legitimate review and I want to spite the service.
I signed up on a military post for my month of training. WiFi worked ok, few lost connections when their system went down. Warning to all, I paid for a month, no check box for reoccurring, it’s just hurried on there page or agreement. Scam, if it’s all that’s available, make sure you call and cancel! They will continue to take your money with no billing statements, I think they hope you don’t notice. I canceled the account, my entire family is banned from using them.
Absolutely trash of a wireless internet provider, imagine paying $50 to NOT have internet….that’s the definition of Boingo, pay them big money, for nothing. What a waste of time and money.
I cant wait to get my permanent room at Fort Drum so I can cancel my subscription. Hands down the worst ISP I have ever experienced.
Like @David – I tried Boingo because of the offer from the Mastercard. Like him, I found it is a piece of poo poo. Does not work, put it simply. If you have to pay then i would say stay away… you will be wasting your money. I tried this when I was in Honolulu FYI.
Boingo what! I have this service for being American Express cars holder. Boingo has never worked for me at all. I don’t even understand. While waiting for a flight in the Maple Leaf lounge I had to delete the app from my phone on order to get onto fee lounge WiFi. I wish American Express would offer a partner service the has the high standards Amex provides. Boingo you really are useless.
This internet provider is the absolute worst
This internet it terrible stops working when it rains hard
I was considering purchasing this then I read the reviews I guess you get what you pay for cheap prices for cheap service I read one review that had something nice to say and the company may have did that so it would not be 100% negative .
Not free wifi no internet paid service scam suk it boingo LTE is free if you don’t stream fuk off
Yeah it’s horrible, I know exactly what you mean
This internet service is horrible. It always down or going through a technical upgrade, but still the same shitty signal. If u want to game on it, it’s only good one Low quality games. Don’t expect GTA, COD, BF, RAINBOW 6 to work on it.. and HBO N HULU work good for a hr. then freeze or buffer like dial up… As Soon as you get the chance Switch to a betyer service.
It’s not like I pay all this money for it to work. I love paying for the service and it dies out on me every other day!!! Not like living in barracks is bad enough, the bad WiFi service just adds to it.
This business is running a dirty unethical billing scam. DO NOT USE THEM. EVER. $500 and multiple attempts at cancelling the service I never signed up for, and still no luck. Their service sucks, if you ever even use it, and you’ll continue paying for months and years to come.
This is the most useless service I have ever come across. Fortunately I got the first month at half price so I haven’t really lost anything. Have travelled around Europe now for 3 weeks and have only stumbled across one of their hotspots. I’ve yet to find an airport it works at! Bizarrely it takes credit for me having access to my own cellular data! I would avoid it at all costs and hope like hell I can bail out of the monthly fee as easily as it said I can, but having read other reviews I’m now worried about that.
Boingo was a total let down. Three weeks in Europe without finding many places it worked. Then my charge card statement arrived with extra charges of almost $80. Their service department labeled this charges as roaming fees. Have put them in. Dispute.
Service works fine for me. No issues good and good speeds. Travel multiple times a month and zero complaints.
It’s a pain in the ass to use it’s the go to Wi-Fi at BWI Airport you have to keep going on and off of it they do have 45 minutes complimentary but the way their interface is set up most people if you read it too quick you end up picking up and playing you have to pay with I don’t recommend it I just use it because that’s the only act in town and it’s free otherwise skip Boingo
I hate false claims. Look, if you are lucky you’ll get 1 out of 10 attempts at connecting. And 30% of those might be at decent to food speed. It’s really inexpensive. But I find its not worth the hassle.
It gave me crappie service and is worthless
huge scam. don’t waste your money.. this service is the worst I’ve ever seen. fuck you boingo.
Boingo literally sucks. The speed is horrible and the connection is horrible. I would literally game online and no other devices connected and I can hardly play because the internet is so bad.
THANK YOU, –ALL– OF YOU, for your honesty and thorough comments. I was reading this page just to do some pre-research before actually trying it out. YOU ALL have SAVED ME, and I’m sure, many others, from BEING RIPPED-OFF like you were !!! So you definitely HAVE helped people out, just by taking your time to share the “benefit” of your experience / dissatisfaction. Thanks again !
This is the worst internet provider in existence, don’t ever buy it, It will always be slow even if you get their premium package and it will drop all the time and it will never be fixed because Boingo doesn’t care about service all it cares about is saying it’s convenient and cheap which for the price it isn’t worth it.
St Louis airport has been “under maintenance” since October. This is Jan 21. No connection. No apologies. Just all networks need maintenance from tech support. Since I fly out od STL regulary this has been a huge waste.
Remember the poor service provided by AOL and then the nightmare trying to cancel their service? Well, the baton has been passed on to Boingo.
In the meantime, the folks at the BBB continue to provide their A+ rating. Once they wake up, they’ll change that to an F like they did with the My Pillow scam.
This is a terrible service i get 500kb to 4mb i got a monthly subscribtion for 49.95 and they charged me an additional 19.95 i called and asked what the extra charges were for and they told me it was because i changed my account settings, never will i recommend this service.
I’m stationed on a military base and we have to use Boingo if we live in the dorms. This is, by far, the worst internet provider I’ve ever had the misfortune of using. My ping is around 2500 on most days, which is 25x higher than what it’s supposed to be. Every time I call I go through the same cookie cutter support where the representative acts like he/she doesn’t care or tries to get me to look it up on the website, not to mention the support gets me nowhere. I know how to do all of the first tier troubleshooting because I’ve called so many times. Whenever the representative can’t find a solution they try to convince me that the terrible internet is passable or tell me I have to deal with it. I’ve actually been told that I have to deal with their terrible internet. All 3 times I’ve made them send someone out they’ve never shown up, not even with the courtesy of a phone call. I can’t wait to move out of the dorms so I can have the privilege of never dealing with this company again.
I purchased this service in an airport. After 20 minutes I was cut off and could not get back online so I tried access with my phone. I got on but was cut off again. Later I got on again with my laptop and was cut off again. I gave up. Then two days later the company charged me and additional $7.95 for logging in using my phone. I contacted them to resolve the situation but they refuse to refund the second charge. Never again.
I was at Logan Airport in Boston and tried to use their “free wifi” but I needed to have a Boingo account. What kind of BS is that?
I have had Boingo for approximately 5 months. Each month that I have it, the service seems to get worse. This month alone Boingo has worked about half of the time (if even that). This month Boingo WiFi has been down a MINIMUM of 10 days (I’ve heard more from others that live in my building) and today is 23 July 2016. Even as I type this, the Boingo WiFi service is down. When I’ve tried to call and resolve the issue, I am put on hold for a minimum of 20-40 minutes. This, I am assuming because everyone else is also calling to complain. I say this because I live on a military installation and we all quite frequently have issues with Boingo WiFi. It is truly a waste of time and money. It is cheap, but you don’t even get what you pay for in this case. Over the past 5 months I have spent about $150 on WiFi with Boingo. I should have used that money on my mobile data plan to make it unlimited. That way I know that I would be receiving the service that I am paying for.
They are taking over airports such as CLT and DCA which once had decent free wifi then charging to use their hotspot. In the meantime the places which now have a Boingo hotspot which once had useable wifi now the free wifi seems to have deteriorated substantially! Coincidence?
Charlotte Douglas airport HAD decent FREE wifi unrtil Boingo took over the operation. Now they demand fees otherwise the free wifi is limited to 30 minutes and barely useable to send an email. IMHO Boingo is run by crooks shaking you down for cash. If I had any say the Boingo folks would be in Federal Supermax prison for their scam.
I don’t understand how the service works unless you have a mobile modem/router with which to engage the network. If I need to rely on hotspots, then the service is not accurately being presented as it is not truly mobile. I can get wifi just fine in my home through my ISP wifi-enabled modem/router & extender (we used to call it a repeater 25 years ago) but when I leave, I no longer have access to my “hotspot.” I thought that mifi was personal portable Internet access but apparently it is not. Anyone I ever saw using mifi on the train, for example, had a small mobile Internet modem/router (a router indicates that you can connect to more than one device simultaneously through the same service apparatus) and I was told that it costs approx.$100/month. That was about a year ago. Since then, I thought that the cost had dropped. I would like to have personal wifi access on the train or at my desk at work so that I don’t have my searches documented when I’m looking for personal items on my breaks (ex. side effects of prescribed medications, homeopathic remedies to ease hormonal issues when getting my period, etc). But, I am not willing to pay $100/month for this, so I guess my male boss will just have to cope with his embarrassment when reviewing my monthly Internet access request report. However, I was told to learn how to use our VPN service to access my PC and Intranet sites which is kind of hard to troubleshoot unless I have wifi service outside of our corporate network and I have a busy & demanding family life so I really don’t have a lot of time to do this outside of work. I can use my existing Xfinity hotspot access at the train station but I then become a potential victim to vagrants looking for easy targets so this too can be stressful & I would like to find a low cost solution for my 40 minute train rides and my hour worth of lunch and break times. It sounds like Boingo is a giant rip-off and Millenicom/Freedom Pass is no longer a viable alternative. I guess I’ll have to keep looking.
The service is basically worthless on my Windows-based laptop device. The Windows version of the Wi-Finder app does not work. I download it, it works until I turn my laptop off and then as soon as I reboot or turn the laptop on I get an error message that the Wi-Finder has encountered technical difficulties and must be closed. I called Boingo technical support and they said they cannot and will not trouble shoot the Microsoft interface. I got this service free through my American Express card or I’d be feeling very ripped off about having to pay money for a service that won’t work.
I want the account closed I no longer need this my wife has a much better internet service