SBC Deploys Wi-Fi Hotspots At O'Hare International Airport


Avis Rental Car Facility Offers SBC Wi-Fi Access to Mobile Professionals at One of America's Busiest Airports

Chicago, Illinois-/28 March, 2005 - Wi-Fi Technology News/-SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE:SBC) announced that the SBC FreedomLink Wi-Fi service is available in the Avis rental location at O'Hare International Airport, providing added convenience and increased productivity for millions of travelers to one of the nation's busiest airports. The SBC hotspots at Avis will provide a quiet place for mobile professionals to conduct work online.

Currently, the Avis rental facility is the only location at O'Hare International offering travelers the convenience of wireless access.


The SBC FreedomLink Wi-Fi network is one of the nation's largest Wi-Fi networks with the service available in more than 6,700 hotspots. The Avis location at O'Hare airport is among more than 300 SBC Wi-Fi hotspots throughout Illinois where customers can enjoy the benefits of wireless connectivity including select McDonald's restaurants, Barnes & Noble bookstores, Caribou Coffee shops and The UPS Store ? and Mail Boxes Etc. ? locations.

"We are pleased to add the Avis location at O'Hare airport to our FreedomLink Wi-Fi network," said Scott Helbing, senior vice president, SBC consumer marketing. "Travelers will immediately benefit by using our affordable and reliable Wi-Fi service here and at more than 6,600 other locations nationwide.

"The new availability of Wi-Fi access at our O'Hare business center is just one of the many amenities we offer to help travelers stay connected and productive while on the road," said Mike Caron, vice president of product development for Cendant Car Rental Group, parent company of Avis. "The FreedomLink service is a natural extension of our mission to help take the stress out of travel, particularly for our many commercial customers."

The SBC Wi-Fi service will be made available at more than 80 Avis airport locations by June. Other Avis locations that offer the SBC Wi-Fi service include Atlanta, Los Angeles, Detroit, Indianapolis, Oakland, San Antonio, San Diego, San Jose Airport, and St. Louis airports.

SBC DSL customers can receive unlimited access to the nationwide FreedomLink hotspots, including Avis locations, at no charge until May 31, and pay just $1.99 a month thereafter. Non-SBC DSL customers can purchase a 24-hour FreedomLink session at Avis locations for $7.95 or a monthly membership for $19.95 and receive unlimited access to SBC hot spots nationwide.

The SBC Wi-Fi service is part of an integrated effort to meet customer demand for a comparable broadband experience in the home, office or on the road. SBC Internet Services has sold more than a million wireless gateways to DSL customers who wished to establish wireless home and small office networks, and SBC companies are working with Cingular Wireless to utilize Wi-Fi and the Cingular third-generation (3G) network to deliver unprecedented high-speed wireless Internet access.


About SBC
SBC Communications Inc. is a Fortune 50 company whose subsidiaries, operating under the SBC brand, provide a full range of voice, data, networking, e-business, directory publishing and advertising, and related services to businesses, consumers and other telecommunications providers. SBC holds a 60 percent ownership interest in Cingular Wireless, which serves more than 50 million wireless customers. SBC companies provide high-speed DSL Internet access lines to more American consumers than any other provider and are among the nation's leading providers of Internet services. SBC companies also now offer satellite TV service. Additional information about SBC and SBC products and services is available at http://www.sbc.com.