Service Lets Travelers Surf Net at High Speed

Sky Dayton thinks he can make money by pulling the Internet out of thin air.

The 30-year-old founder of EarthLink Inc. made his name by streamlining the complicated business of delivering the Internet to homes.

Dayton now wants to bring high-speed access to travelers as they move between airports, hotel lobbies and spaces equipped with wireless networks using the technology known as 802.11b, or Wi-Fi, which can move data at speeds of up to 11 megabits a second.

His latest venture is Boingo Wireless Inc., a year-old Santa Monica start-up with $15 million of funding from venture capitalists New Enterprise Associates and Evercore Ventures, and from wireless carrier Sprint PCS and other smaller investors.

On Jan. 21, Boingo began serving as the point of contact for 400 Wi-Fi “hot spots” across the country, including the major airports in Austin, Texas; Dallas; San Jose and Seattle, and various hotels run by Four Seasons, Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton, Radisson, and Wyndham.

Boingo offers consumers pricing plans from $7.95 to $74.95 a month, depending on the amount of time used.