BT broadband customers can now take advantage of a million WiFi hotspots across the UK.

BT announced the landmark figure today. The network takes in around 860,000 BT Fon hotspots – which are those generated by customers’ home hubs. Also included are 137,000 BT business hubs and a further 3,800 BT Openzone hubs, that you’ll find in coffee shops and hotels and other businesses.

Gavin Patterson, Chief Executive Officer of BT Retail, said: "Whether at home, at work or when out and about, wireless access is central to keeping people and communities better connected.

“We’ve grown from 500,000 to one million hotspots within six months, and will continue add more to meet demand from smart-phone, laptop, iPod and now e-reader users."

Great news all round. And it’s good too to see BT shouting about its service. After all, although BT home broadband customers get a monthly usage limit to use on its WiFi network, we’re not sure that too many people are aware of this. And given how handy the service is when you’re out and about with your 3G mobile phone or laptop, we feel they should.

In order to be eligible to use the BT Fon network, you simply need to agree to share your wifi router’s signal with other members via a separate channel. In return you’ll be able to use theirs. And that applies all over the globe.

For the record, if you’re an Option 1 customer you get 250 minutes per month. Option two and three subscribers get 350 minutes and 500 minutes per month respectively. Meanwhile, if you’re not a BT customer, you can still use the Fon network by buying OpenZone vouchers. The broadband speeds you can expect are a very respectable 512Kb.