On Feb 13th, I read (on Glenn Fleishman's 802.11b Networking News weblog) that Boingo was giving away free WiFi cards to new Boingo subscribers at gate B4 in SeaTac airport.

I just so happened to have a flight from SeaTac to San Jose yesterday, leaving from gate B8, so of course I stopped by the Boingo kiosk and chatted with the nice folks there. The card they're giving away is a Lucent Orinoco Silver. 40/64-bit encryption. You have to sign up for 3 months of Boingo-Pro at $24.95 a month to get it. A darn good deal I'd say. Unfortunately, with no locations near Laguna Hills, CA or Victoria, BC right now, it just didn't make sense for me to sign up.

Boingo is still officially Windows-only, but if you're willing to be "creative" (trust me, it's still dead-easy) you can get on their network with a Mac. I talked on the phone with Jon Rietmuld, their Sr. VP of operations, who gave me all the info I'd need to get hooked up.

I kind of wish I had signed up anyway, just to get the card, since I wanted one for my dad's PowerBook, but, it's too late now. No rainchecks (I asked).

BTW, Glenn's site also pointed me to this wicked deal on Linksys WAPs. Sorry for not posting this link earlier, I'm not sure if the deal is still on, but if it is, check it out. I picked up a Linksys WAP/4port Cable/DSL router for about $132 with free shipping.