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Is WiFi Access Worth $10/hour?

Posted by timothy on from the not-in-seattle-it's-not dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "This special report from CNET News.com carries an eloquent subtitle: 'Wireless expectations rose in 2003, but growth was hobbled by security concerns and unproven business models.' It's much worse than you think and I'm going to tell you why Wi-Fi will still not be broadly used in 2004 in this column. Technology columnists are usually looking at their own part of the world, in Silicon Valley or on the East Coast of the U.S. And obviously, their opinions are largely biased. Our world is much bigger than that. My arguments are based on real-world examples, both in Greece and in Paris. They're also based on costs of access. Paying $10 an hour for Wi-Fi access is almost twice as you pay for a movie. Would you pay $20 to see a movie? Probably not. So will you pay $10 to use a Wi-Fi connection for one hour? Certainly not."

1 of 346 comments (clear)

  1. Free competition by Bill+Kendrick · · Score: 2, Redundant

    I find it bizarre that people would go to somewhere like Starbucks, where you have to pay for the T-Mobile(?) wireless access, when, here in Davis Calif., at least, you can walk literally a few blocks away and go to another coffee shop which has completely free wireless (and better snacks :^) ) Walk another block up, and there's yet ANOTHER cafe with free, open wireless.

    There's a southwest restaurant near where I live in Davis, and they have wireless you have to pay for. They now advertise "free wireless with $5 purchase," so I pulled by Zaurus out one time and tried it. It was only 20 minutes of access! (Quick calculation... that's $15-food-dollars per hour!)

    Fortunately, at another shopping center where I live, there's yet another coffee shop with wireless. I'm lucky enough to have landed a job where I get to work from home, so I now use them as free office space. Completely free wireless... all I need to do is buy some coffee (and that's not even a rule, like it is at some places).

    I doubt $10/hr wireless will last in places where there's demand for wireless, because a $50/month DSL line isn't that much, compared to the increased business you get for having free internet...

    Sufficed to say, when UC Davis was in finals, this place got REALLY busy... lots of laptops.