Daily Wireless reports that IDT is planning to rollout an innovative wireless telephone service using a network of WiFi hotspots. Initially, they are planning to cover a two square mile area of Newark, NJ with a single WiFi network. The area they have chosen is the Ironbound neighborhood, a thriving community near Newark Penn Station which has traditionally been populated by Portuguese and Brazilian immigrants.
It will be really interesting to see how a service like this works out. They obviously believe that there is a constituency that needs cheaper pay-as-you-go service than the cellular carriers are willing to provide. This looks like a good way to provide such a service. And, given the number of open WiFi hotspots in certain major cities, this offering could have usefulness outside Ironbound as well.