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WiFi Free-For-All

Posted by timothy on from the restroom-free-for-all dept.

my_LART writes "Information Week reports that WiFi access is becoming a free commodity. Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) has recently dropped its pay-per-use model and has installed free access to the WLAN in the food court and will be expanding access to the gates. On a similar note, Choice Hotels International is planning a WLAN rollout at its 370 Comfort Suites and 140 Clarion properties by the end of May. Choice Hotels International plans on expanding the rollout to two more of the company's brands by the end of the year. While this is great for us Road Warriors, how can this make financial sense? Choice Hotels can certainly markup the cost of the rooms by a few dollars per night, but how is PIT planning on reclaiming the costs? Regardless, lets hope other airports and hotel chains follow suit."

7 of 339 comments (clear)

  1. Hmmm by gid13 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Could we just cover the globe and get it over with? :)

  2. Re:Where I work by xoran99 · · Score: 5, Funny
    At the ISP where I work, I can sit in the lobby and pick up about 3 other free wide open WiFi APs from the couch in the lobby.

    Imagine that... An ISP employee looking for internet access at work...

    --

    Karma: Bad (mostly due to all those "In Soviet Russia" jokes)

  3. Easy by Ooter · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sniff credit card numbers on the wireless network and charge them "convenience fees" which most flyers probably won't complain about :) Lazy americans (myself included)

  4. It's crazy! by chunkwhite86 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I agree this wifi free-for-all is getting out of hand. Heck, I've got three different neighbors providing free wifi! ;-)

    --
    I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
  5. Re:WiFi access at airports by coryking · · Score: 5, Funny
    (lady): "Gee, what do you think honey? Should we go to bumfuck, idaho or hawaii for our honeymoon?"

    (MadHungarian): "I vote for idaho, i hear they have free WiFi access in the airport"

    Yeah, way to win one with the ladies dude...

  6. So you're saying ... by pavon · · Score: 5, Funny

    they are going to pay for it by not providing soap and not cleaning the toilets twice a month? :)

  7. Re:Easy by geekoid · · Score: 4, Funny

    actually, you make a good point.
    Set up your own Server, then use a 'age verification' process the gets numbers for, well, age verification.

    Load a trojan onto the laptops, so the next time they boot up, it runs a wav file of someone screaming "I'VE GOT A BOMB, AND A GUN, AND I AM GOING TO KILL YOU ALL".

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect