Here Comes More Free WiFi

from the it's-everywhere dept

Mon, Feb 9th 2004 3:26pm — Mike Masnick

We've maintained in the past that there are two situations in which someone can charge for WiFi: (a) there is no reasonable chance of competition in that location, such that you have captive users or (b) you are offering up something special on top of the WiFi that people value (which could be convenience, security, reliability, etc.). When looking at case "a", this pretty much left only some hotels and airports for the time being - since they could cover enough ground to (somewhat) monopolize the WiFi offerings. However, the trend seems to be changing on that as well, as both hotels and airports are realizing there's a lot more benefit in offering WiFi for free than trying to charge for it. The prices were too high, and not too many people were using it. However, when they offer it for free, it attracts more customers to their locations. In other words, once again, it's the publicity factor that makes it worthwhile.

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4 Comments

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Derek Kerton (profile), 9 Feb 2004 @ 3:26pm

Wow! That's Some Bad Reporting
I particularly liked the part about eavesdropping on satellite communications, surreptitiously inserted into an article about WiFi.
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dorpus, 9 Feb 2004 @ 9:42pm

Who does it attract?
What if free wi-fi brings in e.g. homeless people, spammers, or pedophiles who like the free net access?
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- BoilerBob, 10 Feb 2004 @ 6:22am
  
  Re: Who does it attract?
  How many homeless people have laptops with wireless access?????
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  - dorpus, 10 Feb 2004 @ 10:15am
    
    Re: Who does it attract?
    Quite a few, if you've lived in places like San Francisco or Berkeley. I've seen them come into coffee shops, and you wouldn't want to be within 50 feet of them because of the smell.
    
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