After months of speculation and waiting, T-Mobile has announced a partnership to let outsiders roam on its public Wi-Fi network.

The Bellevue, Wash.-based company has struck a deal with hotspot aggregator iPass (Quote, Chart) to allow mobile professionals who use the iPassConnect software full access to the T-Mobile network throughout the United States, without going through a Web interface or paying extra.

"This is a huge day, and a great way to end 2003," says Jon Russo, the vice president of marketing at iPass.

"The motivation for [T-Mobile to enter this agreement] was our [iPassConnect] 3.0 platform," says Russo. "That caused T-Mobile to pause and see that it made it easy for the enterprise to use Wi-Fi."

T-Mobile runs the public Wi-Fi access found at Starbucks Coffee Shops, Borders Books & Music, Kinko's, and 52 airport clubs and lounges for American, Delta, and United airlines. The number of locations is currently 3,900 in just the United States, making it the biggest provider in the country of public access Wi-Fi. They also have sites overseas that are not part of this agreement.

iPass provides services to around 1,000 enterprise customers so their employees can use Wi-Fi and Ethernet connections on the road. iPass does not have a network of its own, but instead works with providers to create a virtual network. Hotspots on this Global Broadband Roaming virtual network must qualify as "enterprise-ready" under iPass testing.