Aug 10
Using WIFI on location
2005 at 03.45 am posted by Veerle
One of the coolest technologies that I enjoy using is WIFI. It has been out for a while and more and more hotels and public areas have hotspots. But like with any new technology or hype there always people that are trying to make a ridiculous amount of money because it is hot.
I always have the feeling that this kind of behavior is holding the technology back. Take the example of our hotel in Cyprus. A five star hotel so you would think that they care for the customer and give it as an extra service or ask a reasonable price. If you have your own business then you’ll surely have experienced that even when you are on holiday you need internet access.
The first disappointment was that you could only book for a 1/2 or an hour, no biggie if you can use it over a certain period of time. Well that wasn’t the case here, when you log off you’re done so no spreading the amount over a few days. Not only that, the price was 6 Euro for half an hour and 12 Euro for hour. If I pay that kind of money then it better flies but it didn’t to be honest. Uploading a full resolution picture to Flickr is impossible. And for that price it should be on the room, but no, you had to use it in the lounge. The hotel also had a HP laptop that you could use for a price but to be honest I wouldn’t trust a Windows machine that everybody uses with my passwords ;-)
Paying a half hour just to check mail isn’t the ideal solution but then I noticed another card about a local Internet Provider so you would only use a local call with your modem. But even that was ridiculous, 4,5 Euro for 20 min Internet call. So many hotels have a lot to learn on that subject.
The situation in Belgium is a bit better but prices are also not reasonable in some places. Some providers like Telenet see it as a privilege for their customers. Telenet hotspots can be used if you are a customer and if your are not you can only view the Telenet pages. I would have thought that the situation would have been improved since it is more and more becoming mainstream.
I’ve always heard that San Francisco is one the most wired cities in the world. It would be cool if people could post how it is in your country with hotspots, hotels and prices so we can get an image how it is globally.
49served
1
I read somewhere in a paper here in the UK that EXETER in the southwest is the city with the most hotspots of any city in the UK.
Amazing considering that I live in Exeter and we normally get all the technology/fashion/news/bands months after everybody else in the country!
2
I’m in Ireland, public wi-fi here is a total rip-off. There are a few select hotels that offer it for free, but the most popular provider in Ireland (eircom) charges €10/hour! The €10/hour is then split 50/50 with eircom and the hotel as far as I know.
People who are more familiar with the service will know that you can pay €20 for a 24 hour period, which is far more reasonable, but far less advertised.
In my hometown of Cork we are pretty lucky because we have a trial of a city center wi-fi service, so you can currently get free access in the center of the city at amazing speeds (it maxes out the wireless bandwidth).
3
lazymouse: I read that article too. Not sure where though…
I currently only use WiFi at home (my laptop is currently not WiFi enabled so just my desktops use it) but I’m aware that MacDonalds have installed WiFi hotspots at all their drive-thru “restaurants”. Which is a pretty good idea really.
Anybody got any info on the quality of the service?
4
ok, first off, your article appears twice here. :s
Last time we went on vacation it was in an all in. I could use the computers 24 hours a day and didn’t have to pay one cent. That was really magnificent.
And the computers weren’t even protected. Most public computers have locked down instant messaging gates, these computes however could support msn & mIRC without problems.
--
Do you really that we’re living in a good situation here? :s Ok, we have very fast internet connections, but in comparisation to Nederland where they don’t have the 10 Gigabyte download limit and where they pay much less than we do.
Scarletts new commercial might be a little extravagant and ridiculous but it is true.. We are paying too much for our connections and we’re too limited in our internetuse.
Hell, I’m on smallband just for browsing through the thumbnails on deviantart. Or if I want to follow a videotutorial, or when somebody gives me a funny mpeg.
5
I thought you could use Telenet hotspots even if you’re not a Telenet customer. But of course, then you’ll have to pay (too much). And even if you’re a Telenet customer, the volume you use, is subtracted from your available volume at your home connection.
6
Shannon Airport in Ireland has free WIFI internet access since Ireland’s Presidency of the European Union last year. Nice to have while waiting for your flight!
7
In Czech Republic T-Mobile has several hot-spots in hotels, gas stations etc. Unfortunately there is no hot-spot available on Prague airport.
Pricing is different if you are T-M customer (it will appear on your phone bill - 0.7 EUR/15 minutes) or not (you can pay by credit card or buy coupon in T-Mobile shops - 5 Eur/1h, 7 Eur/3h, 17 Eur/24 h). You can sometimes also find free hotspots but speed is usually limited (64kbit/s). Time starts running when you first connect so buying 24h coupon does not make sense - unless you want to spend whole day surfing ;-)
8
Went to Philadelphia, PA USA and stayed at a couple or marriotts there and they all offered free wifi and wired access in the rooms. My luck in the USA is that most hotel chains are giving free WIFI access.
9
Just consider how lucky we really are here in Europe… I went to Argentina last month and had to ask in 5 different cyberpubs for a CD writer to put my digital pictures on a CD! Don’t even try to use a USB stick.
Internet access over there is really cheap because computers are rare, 1 peso (20 eurocent) for an hour is a normal price but don’t even think wireless, just opening my iBook was enough to be an interesting foreigner (white laptop computers?).
On the way back I had to pay 7 Swiss francs for half an hour wireless internet at the airport in Zurich. Needed an internet connection to check the currency with Euros so I just payed it without knowing how much it really was. (turned out 1 Swiss francs is $0.8). Why don’t they advertise their prices in dollar or euro in such an international place?!
Giving the fact that I could call for half an hour at Skype rates it’s still cheaper than the normal, old-fashioned, phones. :)
10
Here in Portugal we have hotspots in hotels, shopping centers, airports and public buildings. If you’re a customer of SAPO (wich is the ISP of Portugal Telecom) then the time you spend on-line is charged on your monthly internet bill. If you’re not a SAPO customer, then you have to buy an e-voucher that costs 5€ pr hour, 20€ per day, or 50€ per week.
There are also other providers of WIFI services and it depends on the hotel or shopping center you go. Some have SAPO (PT-WIFI), others have Vodafone WirelesLAN, others have something else… You never know until you get there :D
By the way, our ADSL here is very expensive compared to the rest of Europe. Let’s see if the competition between the new ISPs can lower the prices…
11
Wow, that surprises me… here in the US free internet access is getting to be pretty standard with hotels, even some of the low end ones. Generally it seems to be the case that America is quick to innovate, but slow to actually implement.
12
In Norway you can go WIFI at every Statoil gas station (major gas chain).
You need a free account and are only paying for the amount of MB.
20 MB = 1,5€, 21-50MB = 1€ and 50MB + = 0,5€.
Billed monthly. Max 100€ pr month.
Brilliant!
13
I too live in Exeter and was also surprised about Intel’s award of ‘most wireless city in europe’. I think that might be the only award it has ever won!
Back to the topic, A local hotel, the southgate, has free wifi in it’s bar/lounge and in the rooms too I believe.
14
Hmm… intresting and true.
Btw, after half the article you are putting the same text in all over again ;-). Well written and keep the thoughts coming :-).
15
I just came back of my trip through Europe and I noticed that Burger King and Starbucks has Free Wi-Fi access. In my hotel in Rome Wi-Fi was free, but I don’t know if it was fast because I didn’t have the chance to try it.
16
We are lucky in Charlottesville - at least in the downtown area. Most of the restaurants/coffee shops are wired and offer their wireless service free. I can’t think of anywhere here that charges - even some of the coffee bars have desktops for the use of their customers. Our big health club has seven!
17
In Austria there are a few companies which offers public and most times free hot spot services.
In many different coffee shops in vienna you don’t need to use a public hot spot you can use an unsecured wireless hot spot from the neighbourhood ;-) thats sometimes funny… but not 100% the legal way to use the internet… but in the cities it works really without any big troubles… an there are a lot of these points.
@the vienna airport there should be a hot spot but it was impossible for me to connect to it.. and I don’t know how expensive it would be.
btw. our broadband connection in austria is not the cheapest one and we have most times very strickt downloadlimits with about 1 GB/month .. thats not very much… if you want more traffic/month you have to pay a lot… compared with other european countries
18
I’m in Portland, OR, where we were ranked a few months ago as one of the most wired cities in the US. You can go to any Coffee People (akin to Starbucks, but IMO better) and access WIFI for free. A lot of the smaller coffee shops (and there are plenty) do that too. It’s widely available in hotels too, but I think costs vary depending on hotel of course.
19
Here in San Francisco, there are hot spots all over the place. Most of them are free or $1 or $2 an hour. Most have fat pipes (10 MB file in a minute or two, sometimes under a minute). In my home (I’m near Haight and Ashbury: http://redirx.com/?3cpl ), in my room, my computer detects five overlapping networks I can access. Our mayor, Gavin Newsom, is working on blanketing the park downtown (Union Square) with free Wifi access for all.
20
Wow, so many WiFi horror stories! Here in NYC WiFi is just about available everywhere for free. You can even pick up maps at tourist centers to tell you were. For us locals, some telcom’s have good deals, mainly T-Mobile and Verizon (who uses their payphones as antennas!). And yes most hotels in the US do offer free in house service.
Oh to the guy who went to Argentina, where did you go there? Outside the city I suppose. I lived there for 6 mo’s and cybercafes are everywhere and very cheap and very well equiped. $0.30US seems to be the standard. Why? Computers are a bit pricey and so is broadband for the home. Oh every cybercafe as the latest pirated software and games.
21
Wi-fi in Europe is far more accessible that in the states. I spent the month of June in the UK and central Europe, and never had any trouble finding a hotspot to connect to. A week later I was in Hawaii and had to drive 20 miles to the nearest Starbucks to find any wi-fi at all. I had assumed that Wyoming was just behind the curve, but I don’t think so. With the exception of the major cities, the US is behind in wi-fi accessibility.
22
“Wi-fi in Europe is far more accessible that in the states.”
You’re basing this statement on a trip to Whyoming and one to Hawaii? That’s a bit like complaigning that there’s no Wifi on the South Pole.
The fact is, the major US cities are either wired now or are in the process. Access is usually free. When it isn’t free, it’s cheap.
Contrast that to Europe, where it seems everyone’s trying to squeeze out the last Euro they can out of you.
23
I live just outside of Buffalo, NY and we are starting to get some free wireless hotspots in this area. I haven’t used them yet as they’re still relatively new.
We traveled to Las Vegas in April and I was really disappointed that our hotel wanted $19.95 for 24 hours of wireless access. We stayed at Treasure Island. I would have thought of all cities in the US, that Vegas would have free access in their hotels.
24
The rampant profiteering frustrates me to no end. I’m not against charging for wireless (after all, somebody has to establish & maintain the network), but the prices that T-Mobile is charging amount to nothing short of gouging.
I can no longer check my email during my 20 minute layover in San Fran’s airport (it used to be free?). The minimum connection I can pay for is $10 for the day. I need 10 freakin’ minutes.
It will be interesting to see which way it goes - it’s either going to “approach” free, or get expensive. I’m in Portland, Oregon, and for living in the “most wired” city, I’ve never run into free wifi. Granted, I dont go to coffeeshops often, but it would be nice if PDX (the airport) had it.
25
I’m wireless at home (17-inch Powerbook). Apartments seem to be a great place to grab a few seconds of Wifi to check the email. We have a number of restaurants and coffee shops that provide free Wifi such as Panera Bread Company (a soup and sandwich chain around here). A lot of the local malls and shopping districts are Wifi in the area that I live. If you head downtown to The University, you can pick up a hot spot just about anywhere you walk. All in all I would rate Richmond as a 7 out of 10 for hotspots.
26
Well, here in Zurich you have ‘official’ hotspots where you pay a certain fee for wireless access (don’t know the prices out of the top of my head) but even better is there are quite a few bar/cafes/restaurants that offer free wireless access. They do not really advertise it but it is freely available.
So, pretty easy to find hotspots. Almost everywhere where I have been I have found some signal I could connect to.
However, I now have a 3G (UMTS) mobile phone so when I have no wireless access I use my mobile as a broadband modem :-)
27
On a business trip to Las Vegas, I stayed at the Frontier, a really old and seedy hotel by modern Vegas standards but the WiFi was free. It wasn’t exactly advertised at the front desk or in the room, but I found the network after I booted my laptop. I just called the desk and asked for the access code and they were happy to give it to me.
Also, Apple retail stores feature free WiFi access in the areas adjacent to them.
WiFi is getting so ubiquitous in the US, especially in California. At my local coffeeshop, whenever I boot up to do some work, I always get signal from up to 12 networks and usually half of them are unsecured. People need to learn about securing their private LANs.
28
Funny. I’m writing this while I’m sitting on one of the stairs in Brussels central station with my 12” Vaio on my lap (in the main hall, somewhere in the back). And I’m connected to a Telenet Hotspot (7 euro/hour if I’m not mistaken… it’s just added to my monthly invoice for Telenet broadband access that I use at home). It works like a charm! And blazingly fast. I’ll tell you even more: I’m listening to the new Rolling Stone’s new single that I’ve just downloaded from the iTunes Music Store. Over the air. In Brussels. Ha! And it’s a nice song too ;)
Still ten more minutes before my train arrives though :s
29
7euro/hour is a lot!
That’s exactly the reason why it isn’t so mainstream yet, I hardly see people using those hotspots… go figure why. I can buy myself a cup of coffee, a newspaper and still have money left… there is no reason at all why they should keep those prices so high, profit is all what counts… it’s a real shame.
30
@ all: It’s clear I have to move to the US to be in WIFI heaven :-) Thanks to everyone who already posted because it is cool to get a global overview of the situation.
@ Frederic Vandeborne: Ok maybe we are not the cheapest country for broadband but I am for one happy to pay a little more as I do now and have great service and never any interruptions or download limit.
@Roel: Yes it is cool to surf while waiting for a train, but 7 Euro is exactly the reason why I have posted this entry. They treat us like suckers who need a connection and are dumb enough to pay so much money. if prices where reasonable then people would use it a lot more. But for now they get away with it so why change. It will stay this way untill somebody breaks new ground.
31
@Veerle: Mm, you’re right… 7 euro is a lot of money. I could have bought 7 songs today in the iTMS instead. I’m afraid that I am too spoiled…
32
In Kansas City, I use the free wifi at Panera bread. There are two of them in a ten mile radius from my house.
I can also use my T-Mobile wifi to get online at Borders and Barnes and Noble, both book stores.
There are two “other” coffee stores in the area which have free wifi. But I haven’t used them. Panera is my preferred place to WiFi.
The small college town my daughter is moving to has free Wifi in the local Country Kitchen resturant. :)
33
I don’t know if the US is WiFi heaven :). T-mobile hotspots require a paid subscription to access them. There are a lot of chic coffee / sandwich shops & bookstores w/ wifi access I guess but that doesn’t seem like the most convenient atmosphere to actually get anything done.
34
Greece probably has the most expensive internet access in the E.U. but to my knowledge there are a few free WiFi access services, like the one offered at the Athens International Airport. Also Starbucks features free WiFi access and if you’re lucky you might stumble upon one of free hot spots run by private associations.
WiFi access in offered on some of the Minoan Lines’ ferries, but I do not know if they charge it and how much.
Recently the two major ISPs lunched officially some WiFi hotspots in downtown Athens and in a few other areas but the coverage is still very limited. They are currently selling cards at 6 euro for a 2 hours access.
35
There are hot spots all over the greater phoenix area. I do not know about the hotels here, but you can go down to the local starbucks or barnes and noble and get free internet wi-fi access. Also many libraries offer this too. As far as resorts go the Scottsdale princess offers free high speed internet access. I can get cox high speed internet access at home for the following....$40.00 is 5mbps, and $54.00 is for 9mbps :o)
36
I went to Istanbul Int’l Airport today, to pick up a friend. There was a stand there saying “INTERNET Access”, it was not WIFI but regular ADSL connection and price was include use of desktop PC.
Here comes the funny part, announced price for 30 minutes was 2 Euro or 2 USDollars or 2 Y.Turkish Lira. In reality 2 YTL =1,20 Euro or 1,52 USD.
So in any case if you pay 2 YTL it becomes exteremly cheap compared to Cyprus.
I couldn’t hold my self and I went to the guy and asked “ are you serois or is this a joke?” He smiled and turned his back to me…
So, just in case you come to Istanbul for your next trip, don’t forget to bring some Turkish coins....
37
I discovered that a particular cafe in town here in Marbella offers wifi access for 2 Euro per 1/2 hour, and you have to pre-buy the amount of time you plan to consume.
That’s not *too* expensive, but I made a calculation, and based on the rate Vodafone charges in Spain for GPRS, it turns out cheaper to use my Treo as a dial-up access for my Powerbook, than to pay for Wifi access (as long as I don’t download more than 8MB per hour.) The bandwidth is lower, of course, but generally when I’m cafe-working, I’m only checking/sending emails.
38
I was in San Francisco just last week for a conference! And yes, I had my laptop with me, and was connected most of the time. :) The only annoying thing would be changing your connection everytime you go on a different floor. :) They have different access points. heh
39
I travel throughout Canada quite often, staying at many different hotels and I must say that nearly every single one of them offer free wifi, but if not wifi, then a high speed connection in your room.
I live and work in Atlantic Canada and all the major airports have free wifi also. So there isn’t really a problem finding a free hotspot just about anywhere in Canada.
40
I’m travelling to Rome in a few months, does anyone know what the Wi-Fi connection is like in Italy? Also, if anyone can recommend a good hotel that’s central to many typical tourist sites that be great!
41
Hey Veerle...here in Belgium ;) you can connect almost in every populated area to someones non-secure Wlan. Just use it for surfing, not for a lot of password protected stuff
42
I was shaking my head reading your article Veerle. I am from Cyprus, however I can’t really comment on wireless there because I’ve only had a wireless computer in Cyprus for like a month the last 2 years, and I used it only at home where I have set up my own network. I was not surprised at all that you had a bad experience in your hotel. May I ask out of curiosity which one it was? I know most hotels in Paphos. I’m actually surprised that they did have wireless, however expensive or slow it may have been.
Here in the US, where I live as a student, I’ve had mixed experiences. I study at a public university in Connecticut, and I’m proud to say that almost the entire school is wireless, even the huge lawn area in the middle of the campus. It’s something else to lie down on the grass on a sunny day and be able to bring your laptop along and make use of the internet.
Just a few days ago I was in NYC at a friend’s house. He has dial-up and I couldn’t even connect at some point (probably somebody else using it), so I gave up and turned on my iBook to do offline stuff. Then my Airport detected all these wireless networks (7 at one point), most of them open to use. I didn’t exactly ask for permission to use them. ;-)
I thought that Starbucks WIFI in the US was free, but apparently it’s under the T-Mobile scheme, as are, unfortunately, Borders stores. I find it too expensive to pay $30 per month for wireless access at places you go only a few days per month. I also think that airports should have free WIFI. Last time I was at JFK i discovered I had to pay for wireless, though I didn’t enquire about the cost.
Anyway… long live the WI-FI!
43
@Rodoula, it was in Limassol, Amathus Beach hotel. Some domains were inaccessible, their DNS servers definitely had some problems. Sometimes 5 refreshes in a row did the trick. I’ve tried using the DNS servers of my provider in Belgium but I think the wireless just overwrote my settings. So If you pay that much it needs to work, simple as that. I got a refund for my first connection since it didn’t work at all then. The second time it did, but not as it really should.
Thanks to you all for sharing your experiences here. Guess it’ll often be touch and go.
44
I just returned from a three-month trip around the US with a laptop. Some quick generalized observations:
- Free WiFi at Starbucks is a lie; You have to pay $30 a month for it or use a promotion card which gives you an hour or so free. Courtesy of T-Mobile.
- New York City is saturated with wireless, definitely the most wired city in the world. You can open a laptop in many places and access for free (usually through the mysterious “Linksys-free-for-all” node). Bryant Park in the city center has free wireless sponsored by Google. The libraries have free wireless and also insanely fast cable connections. The Rose Main Reading Room in the NYCL Humanities and Social Sciences building is a beautiful place to work in.
- You can sometimes find a coffee shop with wireless throughout the middle of the country, but not nearly as often as in the big cities such as NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, etc.
- San Francisco has many wireless hotspots much like New York, usually in cool coffee shops or from someone’s house nearby, but also has several offering a service which requires you to pay. Union Square has free wireless by Google. The most disappointing place the airport which is also in the clutch of T-Mobile’s ridiculously expensive service.
45
Glasgow now has some open hotspots but otherwise is pretty poor for Wi-fi.
Edinburgh isn’t much better generally but The Jolly Judge pub (google it) has free Wi-fi and a fantastic range of ales!!
46
I just finished a project for a few hotels in my area, Connecticut, USA and all the hotels in this chain, http://www.choicehotels.com , are required to offer free access in rooms and a wifi hotspot in the lobby or lounge. Even places that used to charge have recently put up signs advertising that the service is free. When they did charge it was never more than $5-10 for a 24-hour period
47
Time to take it in our own hands I would say. Leiden was one of the first to offer free (as in beer and in speech) access. It was baptised the hippienet. Amsterdam is pretty far too, with lots of open hotspots, the main Hub sitting at de Waag on the niewmarkt.
I tried in Antwerp too, where I can see a hotspot from my window, the crown plaza hotel, but the signal was too weak, and the access was closed with a password.
So I guess we really need to get together with a few people and set up some wifi points on our roofs. They cost as little as €100, and they are great fun to play with!
48
I recently spent three nights at the Crown Plaza (near Canary Wharf) in London, UK. The cost for 1 hour’s worth of wired internet access was £8, 24 hours worth was £15 - as much as I pay for a whole month’s worth of broadband at home.
Joy :)
49
I always use to think USA, Europe are all far ahead of India ... In terms of technology and accessibility…
Here in India we have some Good Coffee shop’s like Cafe Coffe which is there in all metros were WIFI is absolutely free ... I mean you can order for a cup of capucino which costs half a dollar(1 dollar is Rs 45) and connect to your wirless lapttops and even in some leading Pizza corners and Malls its absolutely free.
Next time you come to India make sure you visit any of these place to use WIFI.