Google Gives the Gift of Free Airport Wi-Fi

itwbennett writes "Google is giving you something to be thankful for as you travel this holiday season. The company announced today that it is offering free Wi-Fi at 47 airports across the US between now and January 15. If you haven't booked your flights yet, you want to factor this into your plans. Here's a list of the 47 airports, which cover about 35% of all US passengers, according to Google. The Burbank and Seattle airports will continue to offer the free Google Wi-Fi indefinitely." The HuffPo notes another altruistic note in Google's gesture: "As another way to pass on the spirit of the season, once they log on to networks in any of the participating airports, travelers will have the option [of making] a donation to Engineers Without Borders, the One Economy Corporation, or the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. Google will match the donations made across all the networks up to $250,000, and the airport network that generates the highest amount per passenger by January 1, 2010 will receive $15,000 to donate to the local nonprofit of their choice."

Comments

HuffPo?

[Anonymous Coward]

HuffPo? Really? It's that hard to say Huffington Post? Really? Wow. I mean, I've heard of editors being too lazy to check for dupes, and too lazy to proofread and article, but just wow!

Re:HuffPo?

[Anonymous Coward]

I was wondering how the Microsoft Evangelist Bingspammers are going to spin this as being something evil.

Got any ideas?

Re:HuffPo?

[Frosty Piss]

I've heard of editors being too lazy to check for dupes and too lazy to proofread and article...

Dupes? Really Wow. I've heard of posters being too lazy to proofread an article, but just wow!

Re:HuffPo?

[i_ate_god]

er, that's its nickname.

I think someone has to whoosh me now for obviously falling for the troll bait... :(

Re:HuffPo?

[frvfilmslashdot]

fifo--- firefox...

Re:HuffPo?

[rantingkitten]

Yeah, and "Brangelina" is a nickname for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and "Tomkat" is a nickname for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, but you know what? That doesn't make it any less stupid.

Inventing moronic shorthand words where shorthand was completely unnecessary should be grounds for immediate, on-the-spot execution. Pretending like they're valid because you've seen them used elsewhere is grounds for torture before the execution.

Re:HuffPo?

[jandersen]

It's that hard to say Huffington Post?

You need to cheer up a bit, man. People invent nicknames for things all the time, sometimes to express a certain view on things.

Re:HuffPo?

[Canazza]

"Brangelina" sounds like some kind of Laxitive Fairy

Re:HuffPo?

[glarbl_blarbl]

Somebody shit in your cheerios today? Was is Brangelina? Or maybe Speidi? Though, I guess if we're going to be executing people for using stupid nicknames, it should be someone calling themselves 'rantingkitten' setting the policy.

heh

[stoolpigeon]

Of the two I'll definitely be in during the time frame - the one that already had free wi-fi ( Orlando ) is on the list. The other, the busiest airport in the country, didn't have free wi-fi before and is not on the list. The Sanford/Orlando airport also has free wi-fi but last time I was there it would only let me access Google sites. It was odd but I could get to Google Docs so I didn't care too much.
 
What would be really awesome is free wi-fi on aircraft. Although I'd trade that for power in a heartbeat.

Re:heh

[mrbene]

What would be really awesome is free wi-fi on aircraft. Although I'd trade that for power in a heartbeat.

This is already being offered on some planes - AA, Delta, Virgin American, and Airtran all offer Gogo Inflight Internet. It's surprisingly similar in price to internet at airports, but I doubt that it offers anything particularly speedy.

Re:heh

[oldspewey]

IND is another airport that already has free WiFi.

Re:heh

[Anonymous Coward]

I was recently on a flight from DFW to BOS, and even with my entire family using the wifi, I was still able to videochat with people on the ground.
The framerate was admittedly low, but it worked easily and was anything but slow.

Re:heh

[loom_weaver]

Gah,

The last thing I want to do while on a plane is hear the person beside me yakking away. On the bus or subway is one thing. In a sardine can where you aren't allowed to move to another location is a whole different story.

Re:heh

[postbigbang]

So is San Jose.

I guess they couldn't bribe ORD enough. Boingo still rules, if you want to call it that....

You see, whereas before you couldn't be tracked, Google (see google.com/dashboard) is an expert. The TSA needs experts.

Re:heh

[ncc74656]

I noticed that Las Vegas is also on the list, even though it's had free WiFi for probably at least a couple of years.

Re:heh

[ncc74656]

The last thing I want to do while on a plane is hear the person beside me yakking away.

VoIP apps are usually blocked for that reason (among others...they might want to bend you over on airphone service, but this is one case where a restriction works out well for everybody).

Re:heh

[Anonymous Coward]

With internet access on the actual plane you will now be required by some companies to make productive use of that time, and be in communication with the office in flight, instead of watching a movie/reading a book/taking a nap.

As someone who travels a lot for business, let me just say gee, that sounds swell.

Re:heh

[Anonymous Coward]

I've used it and was pleasantly surprised. I didn't try streaming video (because I'm not an ass), but it was very easy to use AIM in realtime and check email (including attachments).

Re:heh

[rolfwind]

I thought wifi was too risky, at least according to the mythbusters, in an airplane because not every wifi card, etc. could be tested?

Wouldn't it be safer just to offer an ethernet port at every seat?

Re:heh

[Belial6]

If you are having a problem with noise in public places, it is a self inflicted problem. Here is a very inexpensive solution so that you don't have to be in torment when every single person around you doesn't bend to your will.

http://www.uline.com/BL_954/Classic-Ear-Plugs-NRR-29

Re:heh

[moosesocks]

If a plane can be brought down by a weak 2.4Ghz transmission, we have other *much* more serious issues to consider.

The planes should be tested against the most powerful transmission equipment that somebody could possibly smuggle on board the aircraft, not the other way around. RF shielding isn't exactly rocket science, and one would hope that any critical circuitry would already be shielded, given the crazy electromagnetic stuff that happens in the upper atmosphere where the planes happen to spend most of their time.

Re:heh

[ptbarnett]

It's surprisingly similar in price to internet at airports, but I doubt that it offers anything particularly speedy.

I actually ran a speed test on my iPhone during an AA flight.

It was about 1.5 megabit/sec down, and 256 kilobit/sec up.

Clarification: that was down to my phone, but up to the plane.

I suspect that the plane-to-ground link actually has a higher bandwidth, but individual devices are limited.

Re:heh

[ptbarnett]

I thought wifi was too risky, at least according to the mythbusters, in an airplane because not every wifi card, etc. could be tested?

Mythbusters tested mobile phone frequencies.

Wouldn't it be safer just to offer an ethernet port at every seat?

Wiring adds weight, and adds up to a lot of fuel for a large fleet of planes over a year.

Re:heh

[rantingkitten]

The last few times I've flown Delta they've had wireless onboard. They want you to pay, but check the in-flight magazine for the promotional password -- it's something like "deltatrygogo". You create a profile, give it the promotional code, and away you go.

When you fly again you pull the same stunt and give it a different username and email. I used my name, the names of both my cats, and Captain Kirk's middle name the last four times.

I'm not really trying to advocate wholesale stealing. Really, for longer flights, the price would be worth it -- it was like eight or ten dollars, I think. I'd pay that for a four or five hour flight. But for a 90 minute Atlanta-Miami flight, it's excessive. I think they should bill by flight time, or by minutes used, or, ideally, by bandwidth consumed. Since I was doing little more than IRC and email, bandwidth would have been minimal for me. Let the sucker in 37A trying to download twenty-meg powerpoint presentations pay the big bucks. He's probably on an expense account anyway.

For those wondering, bandwidth was pretty decent for being 30,000 feet up. I was pulling about a meg down. Latency was about 300ms, but that's just fine for pretty much everything.

Re:heh

[Zebedeu]

The mythbusters had a program where they tested all kinds of interference in a small aircraft. They couldn't get anything to noticeably affect the flight equipment.

Of course they ended the program by saying that even though they couldn't prove it, it's still safer to follow the flight regulations and turn off your equipment "just in case". I suspect the FAA would've been pissed if they didn't.

Re:heh

[Cornelius the Great]

Several of those airports already had free wifi. I know firsthand that I used free wifi in Orlando (MCO), Ft. Lauderdale (FLL), Portland (PWM)- I'm sure there are others. Not complaining, but Google should have saved its money for those places or offered wifi somewhere else.

Not complaining- I'm happy to have internet on all of my layovers this holiday season. :)

Re:heh

[Anonymous Coward]

The planes are tested, the critical circuits are shielded. It's just more theater.

Google & Microsoft free ad money = Pure Evil?

[Anonymous Coward]

So, I've been thinking about this a lot lately. When Google and Microsoft give away free ad money to test their ad networks, they are effectively inflating the price of how much everyone pays for the ads. It's about as evil as you can get because it is pure evil, like if nobody noticed I'm sure they would do it more but everyone would notice the inflated costs if they did -- so they can only give out a $100/$75 per new account and nobody notices how you end up having to pay for this because you're the ones with the real money competing with fake money that inflates the cost of the ads artificially.

How's that for a reason not buy ads from them?

No Ohare or any of the NY airports??

[thammoud]

Sucks for me.

Re:No Ohare or any of the NY airports??

[mrbene]

MS already got O'Hare, so you'll need to do a search on Bing to get your free wifi there.

Re:No Ohare or any of the NY airports??

[T Murphy]

Knowing how O'hare is on delays, they wouldn't get the wifi running until May, and even then you'd have a ping of 12s or so with a 20% chance of your connection being canceled altogether.

Re:No Ohare or any of the NY airports??

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like Comcast to me...

Copying MS?

[mrbene]

Sounds like Microsoft was doing this already to promote Bing, and that they've snagged O'Hare.

I'm curious tho - if they're picking up the tab for Boingo and so forth, are they also picking up the user registration information?

Re:Copying MS?

[dgatwood]

Sadly, this is next to useless because it doesn't cover any of the airports you are likely to be flying through. None of the major airline hub cities except Las Vegas and Miami are included on the list. Not DFW, not Atlanta, not Denver, not LAX, not Salt Lake City, not Cincinnati, not Chicago, not JFK.

Unless you're a complete fool, you probably have a pretty good idea how early to get to the airport to fly, and for most of us, that means printing your boarding pass from home before you leave, and arriving an hour before the plane leaves. That gives you thirty minutes through security, ten minutes in the airport, and then you're gone. There's very little time to use Wi-Fi, though I suppose if my plane were delayed out of San Jose due to maintenance problems, it might be marginally useful.

Similarly, when you get to your destination, Wi-Fi is the last thing you're thinking about. You're making a beeline for the luggage conveyor (if you checked any), then a beeline for the taxi stand or the pickup area or the car rental place. So although it's nice in theory that I could get free Wi-Fi when I get to Nashville, the fact of the matter is that I won't use it there, either, nor on my return trip.

The one part of your trip that you're not in control over---the one part of your trip where you actually spend a significant amount of time sitting in the airport twiddling your thumbs---is that three or four hour layover. Statistically speaking, this is almost always going to be in Dallas/Fort-Worth, Atlanta, Chicago, LAX, or Denver---maybe Las Vegas if you are flying from somewhere in the western U.S. to somewhere else in the western U.S., but even then, you're much more likely to go through LAX.

So it's a nice idea in principal, but in practice, you'd have a hard time picking worse airports in terms of improving things for U.S. passengers. The airports listed are almost never used for connections except maybe puddle jumper biplanes out to Lexington, KY or something. I mean, I guess they could have picked Jackson, TN (MKL), Milan's Linate Airport (LIN), and Air Europa (UX) or something, but....

Re:Copying MS?

[domino14]

Apparently, you're not as addicted to the Internet as I am. The 10 minutes in between getting to my gate and boarding, and the 15 minutes in between arriving and your luggage appearing on the conveyor belt are prime Internet surfing time.

Re:Copying MS?

[TerraFrost]

They are providing free wireless for at least one hub - a Continental Airlines hub - Houston Bush.

Re:Copying MS?

[chebucto]

I usually arrive early (because of the unknowns - traffic, security, unknown unknowns) and end up waiting a while (baggage). I would (and do, at airports which already provide this (props to YHZ)) use wifi given the opportunity.

Re:Copying MS?

[cashman73]

What they're probably betting on is that more people will use this for non-PC devices, like iPhones and Blackberries with Wi-Fi capability, rather than people popping open their notebooks while waiting for flights. If you have your iPhone handy, it's easy enough to check a few emails quickly while waiting in line, as opposed to waiting for your computer to boot up and all that,...

Re:Copying MS?

[Anonymous Coward]

Salt Lake City has it's own free wifi now.

Re:Copying MS?

[Headrick]

In general I agree with your comment but I don't think it's completely foolish to get to the airport early and a number of people (like me) live in one of the covered airports and will be traveling soon. I tend to arrive at the airport a couple hours early, get through security, and find a decent place to have a meal and a drink or two. I'm much less stressed and will enjoy the free wifi.

So yeah, maybe it's a bit of grandstanding but it's not useless for many thousands of people.

Re:Copying MS?

[characterZer0]

Obviously you live somewhere warm. Up north you show up to the airport an hour before your flight and wait three hours while they deice the planes.

Re:Copying MS?

[Darkness404]

and find a decent place to have a meal and a drink or two

You have an airport that has a decent place to have a meal? There seems to be only 3 types of restaurants in any airport I've been to A) expensive but decent food B) fast food that is expensive and doesn't have half the menu options C) "real" restaurants that manage to kill everything by being in an airport. For example, I ate at a steakhouse (I think it was Outback but I'm not certain) where the food was good and wasn't much overpriced compared to the restaurant outside of the airport but how the heck are you supposed to eat a steak with plastic utensils? Not only that but instead of cloth napkins they gave us paper towels.

The closest thing to a "good" airport food vendor would be either the chain coffee shops or Cinnabon. And I wouldn't eat an entire meal there.

Re:Copying MS?

[Anonymous Coward]

Good points - but you're forgetting layovers between flights.
--

Re:Copying MS?

[dgatwood]

You must have misread what I said. The whole point of my post was that the layovers are almost always going to be in cities that this doesn't cover.

Re:Copying MS?

[Neoro]

Last few times I was in Denver they already have free WiFi

Re:Copying MS?

[Anonymous Coward]

Salt Lake City already has free wifi (and has for about a year, now).

Re:Copying MS?

[dkf]

They are providing free wireless for at least one hub - a Continental Airlines hub - Houston Bush.

Memphis is a Delta hub. (Not a bad place to change planes either, though the ceilings are a little low.)

Re:Copying MS?

[dkf]

For example, I ate at a steakhouse (I think it was Outback but I'm not certain) where the food was good and wasn't much overpriced compared to the restaurant outside of the airport but how the heck are you supposed to eat a steak with plastic utensils?

It varies by airport. Some have the security check at the gate (or at least after most of the food vendors) so they offer better service in the restaurants. OTOH, the airports gouge the restaurants for rents, so expect prices to be higher anyway.

Re:Copying MS?

[Anonymous Coward]

The one part of your trip that you're not in control over

What are you talking about? As soon as you park your car, you're on their time, and you continue to be on their time until you leave the destination airport. That's exactly what makes airline travel suck: you're not in control. You're at their mercy for the entire duration of it all, including any layovers, and you can't do a damn thing about it.

In fact, that's exactly why I go out of my way to find direct flights: it greatly reduces the probability of getting screwed over. In practical terms, each layover effectively doubles the chance of them losing your luggage, delaying the flight, or screwing you over any other way. The more time you spend on their time, the more chance of them screwing you over.

Re:Copying MS?

[Hadlock]

Most everyone I know flies through DFW, unless they're flying Southwest. I haven't checked the numbers but I would guess DFW does roughly double the air traffic/passengers that Bush does. Very sad to see DFW isn't on that list.

Re:Copying MS?

[o'davy]

You forgot Minneapolis (easy to do) which is a major hub for Northwest (Delta). Another layover/delay hub to add to your list.

PDX not on the list

[bobcat7677]

Portland, OR is not on the list...but then that's probably because travelers through PDX already enjoy free wi-fi courtesy of the Port of Portland and have for several years now. Now tell me again why other airports don't extend this courtesy already?

Re:PDX not on the list

[Anonymous Coward]

Because they want to charge for it and make money from the service, duh.

Re:PDX not on the list

[GIL_Dude]

Or, where they don't want to manage it themselves or deal with a subcontractor they are more than willing to sell the franchise rights to some other operator like a Boingo, etc. Less work for the airport - just money to receive.

Re:PDX not on the list

[BearRanger]

Several airports on the list also offer free wi-fi. (Charlotte, NC; Orlando, FL; and I think Pittsburgh, PA come to mind) I just assumed that in these airports Google is picking up the cost of providing the service for the duration of their promotion. But good on PDX to hold the line and stick to their principles. Having flown through there a lot myself I can say firsthand that it's a darned good airport.

Re:PDX not on the list

[Anonymous Coward]

Every airport I've been too have given me free wifi through Boingo.

Wait, huh? You're supposed to pay? And all I had to do was change my mac address and it was free...

Re:PDX not on the list

[sconeu]

I thought IAH (Houston/Bush) already had free WiFi. I seem to recall using it a few years back last time I had a connection there.

Re:PDX not on the list

[cashman73]

I certainly hope this doesn't mean that, after the promotional period, the PIT airport will start charging for access. I like having free wi-fi while waiting for outbound flights here,... I fly to PHX a lot, too, and they have free wi-fi as well at Sky Harbor -- though they're not on the Google list.

Re:PDX not on the list

[Blakey Rat]

Because then Portlanders wouldn't be able to make irritatingly smug forum postings?

Re:PDX not on the list

[Anonymous Coward]

nonsense.

Re:PDX not on the list

[jittles]

SJC (San Jose, CA) and JAX (Jacksonville, FL) are both on the Google list AND they already provided free WiFi access. They both have for at least 1 year. So hopefully Google at least threw them some cash / networking equipment. Otherwise, what has Google done for either airport?

Re:PDX not on the list

[jittles]

IAH does not have any free WiFi that I've ever seen. I've flown through there about 4 times in the last year.

Re:PDX not on the list

[ibjhb]

TPA offers free wi-fi already and has for a while.

Re:PDX not on the list

[Anne Onymous]

Fort Lauderdale (FLL) already offers free wi-fi, as well. I use it nearly every time I fly.

Why is this news

[DeathOverlord3]

I was just in the Incheon airport and not only do they have free wifi throughout the terminal, but many internet PCs freely available for anyone to use. I guess the real news here is that someone passed up on an opportunity to charge $2/hr or whatever for wifi in this country.

Re:Why is this news

[shutdown -p now]

That is South Korea - a country where you can get a 100Mbps uncapped connection for $50 virtually everywhere. That free wifi costs them pennies, literally.

Then again, Incheon International airport is one of the most impressive ones that I've seen in many aspects.

Keep Reading. Free Wifi on Virgin America.

[im_thatoneguy]

From TFA:

In total, the gift will include 47 airports that together handle over 500 million passengers each year, or about 35% of the total number of annual passengers in the U.S. In October, Google and Virgin America announced that, during this same period, all passengers on Virgin America will have free in-flight Wi-Fi. Five of the airports participating in the program are also Virgin America destinations: Boston, Seattle, Las Vegas, San Diego and Virgin America's newest destination launching November 18, Fort Lauderdale.

And no ATLANTA

[GabriellaKat]

Certainly couldn't do it at the worlds busiest airport? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_busiest_airport http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartsfield-Jackson_Atlanta_International_Airport

Re:And no ATLANTA

[vsage3]

Is this a surprise? None of the nation's biggest airports are on there because they're all locked into various Wi-Fi carriers like Boingo that charge $7-10 for a day pass.

Yay SJC! Too bad for SFO

[rsborg]

I'm pretty sure Ohare and NY airports aren't on this list because they're too big, or already have options (Someone mentioned that PDX has free wifi courtesy of the airport itself).

This is a nice gesture of goodwill from Google... I wonder how much it costs.

DFW Not on the List

[PHPNerd]

Somehow freaking El Paso made it on the list, and TWO Houston airports....but not Dallas/Fort-Worth, which is easily the biggest airport in the state and the 4th busiest airport in the nation. What the crap, Google?

Re:DFW Not on the List

[blind biker]

If you want to complain, how about no JFK?

Re:DFW Not on the List

[jittles]

I travel through DFW all the time and if you ask me it's the least laptop friendly airport I've ever been to. They have plenty of mobile charging stations which will power a phone but its next to impossible to find a regular wall socket.

The HuffPo?

[Morris Thorpe]

Today on SlaDo: Comments about the HuffPo report that The Goo giving free WiFi at the 'port.

Re:The HuffPo?

[Anonymous Coward]

Today on SlaDo: Comments about the HuffPo report that The Goo giving free WiFi at the 'port.

Thank you, good sir. I'm officially calling Google "The Goo" from now on.

Re:The HuffPo?

[Anonymous Coward]

I prefer 'The Goodge'

Oh, and you can just call me 'The Dude'

--

Re:The HuffPo?

[Yvan256]

"The Goo"? 2D Boy might have a problem with that, sir.

No Atlanta on the list

[Anonymous Coward]

For the "busiest airport in the world" they sure do drop the ball with little things like this. No doubt selling people $10 a day passes is too profitable to stop doing.

"Matching" Donations

[Anonymous Coward]

"Matching" donations are just a means to trick people into thinking that they are getting a multiplier on their donations. In fact, Google or any other "matcher" just makes one lump sum donation (to each charity). There is no "matching" unless the big donor states that it will take back some of its money if others don't donate enough, but that's never how it works in practice. Really, the fundraisers are suggesting a connection between two entirely separate transactions, and I think it's dishonest (and the ends don't justify the means).

Ah, yes, HuffPo

[93 Escort Wagon]

It just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? Let's all say it together - HuffPo. HuffPo.

Actually, I guess it doesn't really. What it DOES sound like is something that'd get a movie an X rating.

Re:Ah, yes, HuffPo

[bwcbwc]

No, it's the spoonerism of HuffPo that would give you the X rating...PuffHo?

Re:Ah, yes, HuffPo

[formfeed]

The HuffPo? isn't that AriHu's NewsBloSit?

So...

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Did google find themselves in need of a representative sample of travellers' network activity? Or some general positive buzz?

To "the season"

[alexborges]

Fuck the season

Fuck the horse (or "raindear") it rode in on.

And fuck the "spirit" of whatever the hell makes you feel all twingly inside and more "giving"

You are either a good person or an asshole, regardless of the time of the year.

Re:To "the season"

[Anonymous Coward]

Sometimes we need a "-1 Drunk" mod.

Re:To "the season"

[TangoMargarine]

Well, I have a guess which one you are...

Re:To "the season"

[DesScorp]

You are either a good person or an asshole, regardless of the time of the year.

So good of you to represent the assholes.

Re:To "the season"

[RJBeery]

It's reindeer. Asshole.

Re:To "the season"

[Anonymous Coward]

Well I guess we know which one you are!

Re:To "the season"

[miggyb]

But a "+1 Drunk" mod would so much more useful.

Re:To "the season"

[Anonymous Coward]

You are either a good person or an asshole, regardless of the time of the year.

I have seasonal affective disorder, you insensitive clod.

Re:To "the season"

[L4t3r4lu5]

I applaud his honesty. In this age of hollow sentiment and faked politically correct trite, it's refreshing to hear someone call a spade a spade for once.

I wish everyone was this honest, without exception. At least then you could give honest opinions and accept what you were told at face value.

Off topic, but my g/f asks me if she looks good in clothes, and accepts my answer. She got dead upset the first time I told her "yes, your ass does look fat in that dress." However after I explained that it was the fault of the dress, and that if she'd spend a little more than half a second considering the implication of my statement, she'd see that her ass isn't fat, as I'd have said so earlier and more frequently.

We've been together 8 years, before you say that it's doomed to fail. Honesty works in relationships.

Back on topic: Yeah, I'm an asshole too. At least I'm honest about it.

Re:To "the season"

[Abstrackt]

But a "+1 Drunk" mod would so much more useful.

I always assumed it was "+1 Funny".

Re:To "the season"

[Anonymous Coward]

Well I'd rather have someone be an asshole all the time (ie the Republican) instead of someone is really is an asshole, pretend to be your friend, then screw you over every chance they get (ie the Democrats).

Re:To "the season"

[alexborges]

You, sir, are a grammar nazi.

And probably a Goodwin nazi, but that remains to be proven.

Re:To "the season"

[RJBeery]

...actually, calling someone a "Goodwin grammar nazi" is quite clever. It blends irony with sarcasm and tempts one to continue feeding the troll (it's Godwin, of course). Either this was intentional and I salute you, good sir, or you simply stumbled upon it and you are in fact a stupid angry fascist asshole. ;)

Supply and demand works here

[Anonymous Coward]

When Google and Microsoft give away free ad money to test their ad networks, they are effectively inflating the price of how much everyone pays for the ads.

Not really. They charge as much as you are willing to pay. The AdWords/AdSense prices are very low for well made ad campaigns for keywords with little competition but if you want to have the first ad when people search for generic, higly competed keyword (Like poker), you will have to pay like hell because so many others are also willing to pay for that place.

What google then does with the money only affects it's profit margins. It doesn't inflate the prices.

How's that for a reason not buy ads from them?

Regardless of what the company does, I will keep buying ads from them as long as it stays profitable for me (I am pleased with the amount/quality of visitors I get for what I pay).

OMA always free

[JeffTL]

Eppley in Omaha (world's cleanest airport, or so says the urinal, and I've not seen a cleaner airport yet) always has free WiFi. I see that Microsoft has sponsored MDW and DEN, which would be of use to me had I not already taken care of all my immediate business there.

Re:OMA always free

[Anonymous Coward]

I think I ruined their reputation last time I was there. Sorry about that, next time I promise not to get the 1/2 lb combo burrito from the airport Taco Bell...

Picked 1 of 3

[timpdx]

Chose LAX *bzzz* Chose Virgin *ding* Chose JFK *bzzz* one of three ain't bad, must have wifi at JFK to get some work done on my 5 hour layover to the UAE. Its New York, I don't expect them to "do free" and I will be stuck paying for that part. hey, will take the free in-flight wi-fi...

It's a trap!

[Anonymous Coward]

This has rarely been so appropriate.

Still an U.S.A. airport

[Anonymous Coward]

As an international traveler, thanks but no thanks.

Re:Yay SJC! Too bad for SFO

[arevos]

This is a nice gesture of goodwill from Google... I wonder how much it costs.

Goodwill? Well maybe, but I suspect that they'll also be storing all that lovely user data about people's surfing habits. Airports have a lot of different passengers going through each day, so they'd get a good cross-section of the population. Also, as network traffic on airport wifis is predominantly from personal laptops, perhaps there will be less clickbots/spambots to screw up Google's statistics. They could also tailor their advertisements more effectively, showing people ads for local businesses in and around the airport, for example.

or ATL - Altanta

[NoYob]

or CBN - CowboyNeil!

dont trust them

[Anonymous Coward]

Its only a gesture. PR, you know. Theyre luring us in ... evil evil monster.

Pittsburgh

[Anonymous Coward]

Pittsburgh already has free WiFi. What exactly are they offering us?

Imagine all the marketing info ....

[opypod]

I guess google will be keeping track of what all those holiday shoppers/travelers are googling? This is so much better than doing marketing research the old way ... Not that I'm a skeptic ... but I believe there is an evil, ulterior motive.

Re:Imagine all the marketing info ....

[Malenx]

Not that I'm a skeptic ... but I believe there is an evil, ulterior motive.

0.o

Re:Imagine all the marketing info ....

[M8e]

There is ALWAYS an ulterior motive.

YVR - it's already free!

[KPexEA]

Has been for a while now.

Re:YVR - it's already free!

[Anonymous Coward]

Too bad it isn't at YYZ Terminal 2 (the U.S. terminal).
Terminal 1 has free Wifi sort of.. you can steal a signal if you are close enough to the Air Canada Maple Leaf Club lounge.

Maybe you should ask DFW

[Chris Daniel]

I would think the airports get a percentage of wifi access fees, or the entire fee if they run their own system (as opposed to bringing in a carrier like Boingo). Perhaps Google's offer (assuming it was made) wasn't a good fit for their budget.

Re:Yay SJC! Too bad for SFO

[Anonymous Coward]

As if Google doesn't have enough user data already. It's for "goodwill" in the sense that it's good advertising for them.

Train stations

[tirerim]

Great. Now how about some train stations to go with those airports? Boston South Station, New York Penn Station, Philadelphia 30th Street Station, and Washington Union Station would be a good start. Add Chicago Union Station and Los Angeles Union Station for those outside the Northeast Corridor.

Re:Train stations

[ThrowAwaySociety]

Great. Now how about some train stations to go with those airports? Boston South Station, New York Penn Station, Philadelphia 30th Street Station, and Washington Union Station would be a good start. Add Chicago Union Station and Los Angeles Union Station for those outside the Northeast Corridor.

Do train stations make you show up two hours early to get a front-row seat at the security theater, and then have you wait around for six hours because your train was delayed?

No?

Then why do you care?

Re:Train stations

[Temposs]

Chicago Union Station actually does have free wifi (though it's pretty weak in the terminal area). For that matter, the Champaign-Urbana train station also has free wifi :-)

Re:Train stations

[drseuk]

Could we add Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch to the list too? Wales expects!

Re:Train stations

[drseuk]

Obviously you don't live in the UK ...

Re:Train stations

[Ambvai]

I had an 11 hour delay at a train station where I was switching trains before.

Evidently, the inbound train I was supposed to board derailed some five states over.

Re:Train stations

[RealGrouchy]

But trains and their stations are connected through those long steel connections; airports OTOH are already configured for wireless 'devices'.

- RG>

Re:Yay SJC! Too bad for SFO

[bwcbwc]

Don't think it's a question of just size. Google's got most of Florida, including Miami and Orlando. And US Air's hub in Charlotte. But no DFW, ORD, NYC, or any of the other big hubs. Still, they've got all three airports in my general area, so I'm covered for at least my outbound leg.

Anyone have a copy of the fine print?

[Zenki]

Since this is google, they must have figured out a way to monetize this free offer. Are they going to profiling network usage? All HTTP requests?

Then again, they could have figured out that the good publicity was worth the cost.

If only they'd announced this sooner

[Chuck Chunder]

If you haven't booked your flights yet, you want to factor this into your plans.

Sure I've have a week in South Africa in the national parks and game reserves and another in a luxury resort in Indonesia but I'm tempted to chuck the whole thing in for some free wi-fi.

Re:If only they'd announced this sooner

[L4t3r4lu5]

Hilarious. You've taken a comment obviously relating to either domestic US flights, or flights through the US, and taken them completely out of context. Of COURSE the author meant you should travel via the US when travelling UK > Dubai > Australia.

Mod parent down.

Re:If only they'd announced this sooner

[Chuck Chunder]

Hilarious. You've taken a comment obviously relating to either domestic US flights, or flights through the US, and taken them completely out of context.

My statement was clearly exaggerated for effect. The point, that the availability of free wifi at an airport is not likely to be a serious consideration in someones travel plans, is not unreasonable.

"Factor this into your plans?"

[geminidomino]

Okay, maybe I'm too old now and I need to turn in my geek card, but honestly...

Dec 24, 10:14 AM:
"Hey dad! I know I was going to fly out of Islip and save you driving into the city to drop me off, but I'm departing from La Guardia instead. They've got free wifi!"

Dec 24, 11:48 AM:
"WTB Run from Brookhaven to La Guardia. Paying well! Also, WTB Rectal Boot Retraction kit."

Re:Free inflight wifi on all the major carriers

[appleguru]

If you're on a flight with gogo wireless, there are a bunch of promo codes for free internet..

FREEINTERNET should work until the end of the year..
DELTATRYGOGO should work on Delta flights
AATRYGOGO should work on American Airlines flights

Gogo is also running a promotion where you can get a code to give out to people and the person with the most people that use their code gets a few free sessions or something like that.

2287321623nca was the code they gave me; should be good for free in flight wifi until January 7th, 2010

The key for all of these however, is to have them *before* you get on the plane. So if you haven't yet, put them down in your phone or something, just in case you end up on one with service!

I've been doing a lot of flying recently.. nothing better than free wifi on the plane!

Fort Lauderdale has had free wifi

[vulcanrob]

Fort Lauderdale has had free wifi for a long time, let's give them some credit along with Burbank...
FTL FTW!

Re:Yay SJC! Too bad for SFO

[Blakey Rat]

This is a nice gesture of goodwill from Google... I wonder how much it costs.

Goodwill my ass. They're only doing it because Microsoft announced a similar program. Of course, Slashdot wouldn't report that...

I guess it's the sponsorship that counts.

[Anonymous Coward]

Entertainingly enough, Jacksonville (JAX) already has free WiFi. I guess Google is just sponsoring it for the holiday season, though.

The Reason Why? Money

[DesScorp]

Portland, OR is not on the list...but then that's probably because travelers through PDX already enjoy free wi-fi courtesy of the Port of Portland and have for several years now. Now tell me again why other airports don't extend this courtesy already?

As someone that works at an airport (and provides free Wi-Fi), I'll tell you precisely why more don't offer it: money. I work at a smaller airport where the cost of providing the service is low, but at larger airports, the cost of bandwidth and hardware is significant. Pittsburgh and McCarran in Las Vegas offered it as an incentive to pull in fliers, but the cost issue is a double edged sword at airports. With the state of the air travel industry being so bad, not only do airports not want to foot the bill for Wi-Fi, many of them don't want to give up the revenue from the paid Wi-Fi services some have. Airports are pretty desperate for money right now, and there's very little they can do to make it outside of rents and fees. It's not like they can throw an airline ticket sale to attract more fliers. That's up to the airlines. Airports are nothing but landlords, and they're completely dependent upon rent from tenants and fees from things like baggage carts and yes, Wi-Fi.

Re:Yay SJC! Too bad for SFO

[dakameleon]

Ever think it's because Google's marketing department knows how to get the word out more effectively at the right target audience?

Salt Lake City already has free wifi

[Chronoforge]

Salt Lake City already has free wifi (see the bottom of http://www.slcairport.com/information_and_services.html)

Any ubergeek already has EVDO or 3G/4G

[Anonymous Coward]

This is nice but of marginal value. Any ubergeek worth his or her salt already has their own 3G or 4G card.

I do, precisely because I don't want to fool with somebody's wifi or worry about whether I have to pay for the hour of time I have to kill. My little EVDO card goes where I go, and if I need to share with the hottie who doesn't have one, fine: I carry a Cradlepoint router too. Do something nice like that and the digits come free.

Now Google has to mess it up. grrr

what the fuck?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you haven't booked your flights yet, you want to factor this into your plans.

what sort of douchebag plans their holiday around which airports will have free wifi? put down the technology for 1 fucking day and live a little

Re:Yay SJC! Too bad for SFO

[Anonymous Coward]

What percentage of people are going to, say, be checking their gmail accounts, or just googling something? Just getting bored (or busy) people online is usually a win for Google, as long as they tend to click on ads as often as they would at home, or at work, etc. I bet it's a large-scale experiment as well as a publicity stunt.

they said 47 airports

[Anonymous Coward]

what are the others?

Pittsburgh airport already has free wifi..

[gyepi]

..and it is accessible without limitations from the entire area of the airport. So I'm not sure what is the added value of having an extra free Google hub here during the holidays.

what do you do when there isn't any free wifi?

[ailnlv]

pay? read a book?

i usually go with nethack; many hours of offline fun with little battery consumption. I'm still waiting for an ebook reader with an actual keyboard that runs it.

Nothing in life is FREE!

[net4uonline]

People at an airport are a very important advertising asset.. they have spare time and have (forcibly) nothing much to do but wait.. what do they do? they log on to the internet..! if google controls the wifi network they can let their advertisers pin point "customers at airports" more accurately (rather than relying on regular geo-ip) .. combine that with all the data that google keeps on you.. and you can do some very effective targeting.. you call this altruistic ?

Re:Copying MS? (free wifi at LAX)

[Anonymous Coward]

If you don't know where to find free wifi in LAX, you haven't spent enough time there to get sufficiently bored. It only took me until the second layover.

Hint to domestic travellers and V Australia passengers in T3, with little more obfuscation than was used by recent web sites discussing the MIcrosoft COFEE tool's whereabouts: get some air outside before your flight, if you have enough time to go back through security. (T)here's (B)etter (I)nternet (T)here, OK? And then use eagle eyes to find the highest concentration of laptop users in the terminal. It's complete with, I might add, convenient power points, though never enough of them.

From that exercise can be deduced a general strategy for locating wifi access at other airports.

Posting anonymously even though I could use the karma because I don't want my airline FF programs to disown me.

PBI has always been free.

[macbuzz01]

West Palm Beach (PBI) has always been free. Paid for by the county / city. I've flown in and out of there several times.

VPS Missing

[Anonymous Coward]

Oooooh, that's right - they're too busy blowing my property taxes on three-wheelers for their grossly obese deputies who can't seem to walk from one end of the terminal to the other.

Goddamn piney-wood redneck north Florida crackers.

Heat Miser

[AlpineR]

This guy reminds me of the Heat Miser. Maybe he's just grumpy because Santa never gave him the toy he wanted.

We should get together and send him a Hannah Montana Holiday Singing Doll. That'll cheer him up.

To "All Hallow's Eve"

[Anonymous Coward]

Fuck the month

Fuck the ghost (or "goole") it rode in on.

And fuck the "spooks" or whatever in God's name makes you feel wild and "tricky"

You are either a monster or an angel, regardless of the time of the year.

Re:Free inflight wifi on all the major carriers

[stoolpigeon]

Nice - thanks. I'm on Delta from Orlando to Singapore soon and this could come in handy.

Many airports already give you free wifi

[AC-x]

On a recent trip abroad I found that

Helsinki airport has free wifi
Nagoya airport has free wifi
Seoul airport has free wifi

Yet all the London airports back home only give you paid wifi. I'm sure they make plenty enough money to provide free wifi the bloody cheapskates.

Re:Yay SJC! Too bad for SFO

[arevos]

As if Google doesn't have enough user data already.

You really think they don't want more user data? You don't seem to understand how important good data is when trying to predict what a user wants. More data usually beats better algorithms.

MCI has free wifi

[CompMD]

Kansas City International Airport has had free wifi for a couple of years now.

LOL at Madison (MSN)

[Foo2rama]

You know someone at google was snickering at giving free WiFi to MSN....

Re:Keep Reading. Free Wifi on Virgin America.

[sunnyflorida]

Fort Myers and Sacramento already have free wifi and the two I know that don't, Atlanta and SFO, are not on the list. Is this a hoax?

WTF... Free?

[Anonymous Coward]

OK Im an airline pilot and I live in Las Vegas. I know for sure that the WiFi was free already in that airport. Anyone know about any of the others?

800-248-2742

[MarkDeibert]

Wi-FI airports

"Free Airport WiFi"? Great!

[Randym]

And look, it says here I can even donate to "Social Engineers Without Borders". How nice! Thanks a lot, "Googgle"!