Here Comes More Free WiFi

from the it's-everywhere dept

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.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. icon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    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?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    BoilerBob, 10 Feb 2004 @ 6:22am

    Re: Who does it attract?

    How many homeless people have laptops with wireless access?????

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.