BT will upgrade its business customers broadband modem firmware to allow public hotspot service: This is a very, very interesting move on the part of the UK's giant telecom provider. The company will upgrade the firmware for its BT Business Total Broadband customers, which number 170,000. By flipping a switch, the business's modem will create an outpost of BT OpenZone, using a separate SSID, and a "secure Internet channel," as the press release describes it, which means a VLAN or similarly segregated connection that prevents access to the business's internal network.

The notion is that visitors can gain Internet access by using an existing OpenZone subscription, paying a fee (the business can sell vouchers), or being a member of a roaming network. The business customers receive 50 to 500 minutes of use on OpenZone each month themselves, based on their BT contract for broadband.

This business hotspot option extends a previous relationship for residential users with Fon that allows BT home users to flip a switch and become a Fonero.

These kinds of organic extensions of networks have very little impact on the party that's sharing their broadband, because there's almost no work involved. But if enough people opt in, it can have a large impact on the amount of hotspot service that's available. While I have critique Fon for its backside-utility quotient--how readily one can get work done or even make a phone call at many Foneros' locations--the BT business plan assures that hotspots will be in places where people work and gather.