Microsoft's Paid Wifi and Mobile data app finally makes an appearance

Microsoft has long since been said to be building a paid system for accessing data and Wifi on the go into Windows 10 devices.  Rumours of the former included a Microsoft sim card for mobile data which would be accessible to Windows 10 devices with a modem and a sim-slot (like the Surface 3 LTE variant). Regarding paid Wifi, it was assumed that the company would use either the Skype WiFi infrastructure or the Microsoft WiFi app to make use of the service, but there was a third overlooked option – yet another pre-installed app.

Windows Insiders on Windows 10 Build 14328/14332 would have noticed that the update added a new app called Paid WiFi and Mobile added to the Windows desktop app list, as well as a new “Network” toggle in the action center and new paid Wifi options in the WiFi settings pane.

These new settings all appear to be linked to the paid WiFi service Microsoft is currently testing. We do not know much about the specifics of the service or how it will be carried out given that it apparently changes every few months, but we do know that Microsoft is working towards some way of making it easier for users to connect to Wi-Fi on the go. If we had to speculate, we would postulate it works similarly to the Skype WiFi service currently available, whereby Skype credit users can use their Skype credit to gain access to public WiFi services, except with Windows Store as the middleman.

We have not been able to confirm whether the service is live yet, or simply a placeholder.

What do you think of this new feature?

Let us know in the comments.