Wi-Fi Planet's Eric Griffith reports today that Boingo Wireless has extended its $22-per-month flat-rate pricing throughout North America by offering a similar plan worldwide, for $39 a month. Previously, when traveling internationally, each individual hotspot had a different fee.

MarketWatch's Tom Bemis suggests that "the simplified pay structure is still probably more than most consumers are likely to want to pay. But it's certainly within the budgets of many high-end international road warriors who are obviously the targets of the offer."

And InformationWeek's W. David Garner notes that the timing is excellent, coming "as Apple has heightened interest in Wi-Fi because its new iPhone has Wi-Fi capability -- still a rarity among smartphones."

More here from StartUp Beat ... more here from ComputerWorld ... and the press release is here.