Borders And Verizon Team Up For Free Wi-Fi

Everyone knows that the way to lure avid readers into your bookstore is to offer overpriced coffee and free Wi-Fi. This is the tact that Barnes & Noble took with AT&T to get customers into its stores to buy digital books. Borders has now teamed with Verizon to offer a similar Wi-Fi service.

Verizon will provide free Wi-Fi service to more than 500 Borders stores around the country. The two firms are now in the process of installing the needed equipment in the Borders locations and the service is expected to be available by mid-October.

The Verizon platform will offer a splash page to customers who log on in the store that allows Borders to show new releases and special offers to users. The agreement for Wi-Fi in the stores is an extension of an agreement already in place with Borders and Verizon covering WAN and VoIP services.