Verizon Wireless Wi-Fi will not encompass a hotspot network created by Verizon Wireless, nor even the pay-phone-based hotspots launched in New York City by parent Verizon. Instead, it's a roaming agreement with Wayport, the Austin, Texas-based service provider that provides wired and wireless access to customers in 565 hotels and eight major hotels nationwide, as well as in McDonald's restaurants in the San Francisco Bay area.

Verizon Wireless already offers a Wide Area Network for mobile data using CDMA 1xRTT, called Express Network, which has a top speed of 144Kbps. The peak speed for Verizon Wireless customers using a laptop at Wayport locations will be 1.544Mbps.

"If you're a Verizon Wireless data customer, you can travel around the country" and get access, according to Andrea Linskey, spokesperson for Verizon Wireless. "In a hotel or airport, if there's a Wayport hotspot, you can tap in with our client and your 802.11 device, and you're billed as if you're on Verizon's network."