European WiFi Priced Out Of Reach
After two separate business trips to Europe in Feburary, staff at The Kerton Group have suffered from sticker shock at a number of European Hotspots. The experience prompted me to write this article on how and why Europe's Hotspots are priced so high, they're killing the market. Sure, we willingly paid $12 for two hours in our hotel, and about $5 for one hour at the 3GSM convention, but we're hooked on broadband like a pothead has the munchies. Paying those rates was as bitter a pill to swallow as the 90 minute wait for a taxi after the 3GSM show. That kind of extortion for WiFi makes 3G technologies (EV-DO, UMTS TDD, etc.) look better and better all the time.
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
