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Free Wi-Fi Coming To Atlanta's Airport
stephendavion (2872091) writes 'Passengers can now access free Wi-Fi at the world's busiest airport. Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport has dropped its $5 fee to access Wi-Fi in its terminals. "Now, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and airport officials plan to celebrate the long-awaited arrival of the amenity at the airport Wednesday," reports Kelly Yamanouchi of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ... Interm airport manager Miguel Southwell tells Yamanouchi officials believe dropping the Wi-Fi charge will alleviate a "competitive disadvantage" for Hartsfield-Jackson.' I'm puzzled sometimes that so many airports do not yet offer free Wi-Fi, especially ones loaded with businesses (like Starbucks and McDonalds) that have made this a big draw in their non-airport locations. On the other hand, given a captive audience and the temptation for exclusive contracts, maybe I should be grateful that so many do have at least limited free coverage, and that the trend seems positive.
You are being tracked.
And if you do, make sure you're spoofing everything you can and running your best encryption.
Those who keep good records used to get the $5 back from their boss, just charging it to the card they charge the rest of the trip expenses to. Who did this suck for? The kids who were traveling on vacation... yep, WiFi is the entertainment system that keeps you from getting bored at the airport.
Yeah, that's not the sound of the planes, that's them sucking up all the money they can.
I'm puzzled sometimes that so many airports do not yet offer free Wi-Fi, especially ones loaded with businesses (like Starbucks and McDonalds) that have made this a big draw in their non-airport locations.
The airport is already a big draw. Nobody is choosing an alternate mode of transportation of driving far out of their way so they can fly out of another airport just because the airport doesn't have free Wi-Fi. If you can afford to do that, you can afford a cellular hotspot.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
There's something odd about a hand-made Big Mac coming out just like the one you get at the hometown location no matter where you are. There's a lot of people making them right now... must be lunchtime.
First, in order for airport wi-fi to not-suck, you'll need a massive subnet with a TTL of no more than 30 minutes. Yes, I've been in airports where a /24 subnet was apparently just dandy...
Second, everyone who's in an airport seems to want to stream Netflix or something like that; I do hope that Netflix throws a peering widget their way, because the thousands of iPads in that airport will strain the pipe pretty efficiently.
Third, you're on a single collision domain, half-duplex, along with everyone else. 5GHz may help matters, but 2.4 will still be needed for compatibility, and if you're stuck on it, you'll probably get useful speed out of a dial-up optimized RDP session an an SSH window, but the only way regular web browsing is ever worth it is if you have some absurdly early flight (5AM takeoff or similar), at which point 'using my computer' plays second fiddle to the better activity: sleep.
Sorry, I've just never seen it worth it. I always load up my hard drive before I go, and I've never regretted it.
The airport: the worst place to be in the cloud.
Is this in addition to the 100 other wifi spots (usually scammers) you find at the airports.
I can't remember the last time I was in an airport that didn't have free WiFi. But then I don't travel in the USA much.
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As a business traveller, I would rather pay, or have some sort of exclusive service.
Once it's "free", every man and his dog connects and stays connected for hours, and the service is inevitably completely unusable.
Not last week when I was sitting there for 4 hours... I am betting my work phone Verizon LTE was faster than their wifi though... Gotta love tethering and making the company pay for it.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
It used to be that most airports paid for certain maintenance operations, in particular the cleaning crews, with the revenue from pay phones. That source seriously dried up about the same time that wifi demand rose, and managers saw charging for wifi as an obvious replacement for pay-phone revenue. Now, long term, as people come to regard wifi as a necessary utility like water or bathrooms, that idea is not sustainable. Also, the FCC helps the push toward free wifi by blocking airports managers' attempts to ban airlines and in-terminal concessionnaires from operating their wifi. (Boston fought the FCC over this for a long time.)
Given the layout of ATL, going from one concourse to another (especially if you go between a civilized airline and Delta) requires a trip to one people-mover that unnecesarily increases the distance. Perhaps they could take a lesson from somewhere like DFW and fix that.
If I want online access, my phone does it quite well.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
As far as I remember KCI has always had free Internet wifi. Combined with the fact that we have Google Fiber, it feels like the rest of America is some third world country.
Someone always pays for it. Everywhere in the world
You mean you have to PAY for public WiFi access in your country??
Yeah, just so we can get some money from visiting arrogant foreigners who think everything should be a free entitlement.
Those exclusivity contracts also apply to business in the airport. Austin apparently signed an exclusivity contract with AT&T for Austin Bergstrom International Airport citing cost and security as the reasons. Business with existing services through other providers such as Time Warner may continue their service but the only provider change allowed is switching to AT&T. Interestingly, business can still order TV from Time Warner but Time Warner is forbidden from adding any data service.
How is this wi-fi free if I'm paying for it as part of my ticket price?
Oh, you meany you won't be charged an additional fee to use it. Got it.
Still not free, only a bit cheaper to use.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
They did have a free page or two and access to news and weather, but the greater Internet was blocked off. I've spent many hours in that airport over the years and will probably spend many many more. The money I save on this can go for being crazy and paying for on-plane Wifi instead.
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
I can't remember the last time "free wifi" made any difference to me. It's not like I would use it anyway. Using free wifi is like strolling through a gay club with assless chaps.
quote
Interm airport manager Miguel Southwell tells Yamanouchi officials believe dropping the Wi-Fi charge will alleviate a "competitive disadvantage" for Hartsfield-Jackson."
unquote
So the manager of the Airport says that someone will actually change their flight plan to avoid a 5$ fee ?????
*change your route for 5$* ?????
Like stephendavion, i thought all the big airports already had free wifi? Maybe not. then again, i don't go to airports much. I usually take Amtrak.
Anyone who scratches their heads at the lack of free wifi in airports is obviously too young to remember pay toilets. Talk about a captive audience. But airports eventually moved away from those. Hopefully pay-wifi will disappear too.
Proverbs 21:19
I work for a hardware vendor (Fortinet) and we are currently selling our AP infrastructure like hotcakes when we partner with companies like Kiana. Imagine a WiFi sensor network that works like the ad sensors in Minority Report. So when you walk by a retailer using the free wifi and browsing we can inject an ad for a free smoothy or a discount beer (that is the evil side). The good side is that when you enter the airport we have you stored in the MAC database and we can see when you are checking in an in teh security line so if you are late for your flight they can have TSA hurry you along to get on your flight on time.
Welcome to Europe, capitalist America.
from my experience I've found San Jose airport has really good wifi. Free, easy to connect, and pretty fast too. Far superior to Google's wifi in Mountain View. And can view whatever websites you want. Frustrating other airports don't do the same (I have used paid services but they are terribly slow), it gets really dry waiting for connecting flights (but then there is the 20th century method of getting smarter by reading a book). Very tempting to get a Ubiquiti Bullet and high gain yagi aimed at SJC airport. But there's considerable distance and many buildings and trees in between, and of course not kosher with their User Agreement.
mfwright@batnet.com
I have a Verizon MiFi so I can get a WiFi cloud anywhere I get a cellphone connection, which means I'm not at the mercy of free WiFi providers nor do I have the anxiety of searching for one. Plus I figure I have a more secure approach than a public wireless connection. All the excitement generated by people who depend upon free WiFi is amusing.
I don't think the GP is a Troll. Although, he does discount our Government's role in their illegal activities.
But he does raise a valid point - businesses collects all this information making the government's job MUCH easier. In effect, Google, Amazon, Yahoo!, etc ... are all defacto branches of the Government because their information is for sale or available by court order (*snicker* really all the Gov has to do is send a nasty letter or guys with badges and guns.).
Which leads me to say this - we need strict privacy laws to prevent businesses from pimping it out and abusing it themselves.
Businesses can NOT be trusted.
Ahhh, we forget to mention the new $5 dollar fee for standing in the terminal.
Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is my favorite airport, and this news just made it even better.
They just opened a Buffalo Wild Wings last September in Terminal/Concourse D. New Belgium Brewery's Fat Tire available (though it was bottle-only last time I was there). There's nothing like a dozen Blazin' (boneless, extra-wet) wings before a long flight to keep things interesting. 45 beers on tap is quite a bit nicer than a "Chilis To Go" or a shitty TGIFridays.
Smoking lounges. Seven smoking lounges. I don't smoke anymore, but I'm capable of some empathy. Having to round-trip through security just to have a smoke when your flight is delayed is annoying, to say the least. It's refreshing to see some airports are still willing to accomodate our second class citizens... I mean smokers.
Quick and easy access to MARTA. Cool art installations. Excellent/efficient airport layout/design. Lots of surprisingly great food options. And now free WiFi, something you don't see too often in the US. They've truly outdone themselves this time. I wish my home airport (EWR) was even half as nice.
Chuuch. Preach. Tabernacle.
SJC and the much bigger PHX are the airports I frequent and both do a pretty good job. $5 may not be much to a business traveler, but in a few years we'll look back at it the same way we'd think of a $5 charge to turn the lights on.
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Why anyone in their right mind would find themselves in that particular hellhole, I'll never know.
Disband TSA/DHS. Internal travel free of federal government interference is a Constitutional Right.
Save America. Re-elect NO ONE. Ever.
Atlanta's new wifi install can handle 15,000 connected devices according to the specs they released. Just an FYI if in Atlanta and if you need faster service - Terminal A the Admirals Lounge has free wifi about 150ft out each way from it's entrance, fast enough for Netflix.
Wifi hotspots are not really needed anymore. Most everyone has (nearly) unlimited cell data.
Meanwhile in the north, we have had Wifi for many years at Toronto's Pearson airport ...
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In order to browse from KATL you must import and trust their cert. That means they can MITM your SSL transparently and without your knowledge.
I can't remember the last time I was in an airport that didn't have free WiFi. But then I don't travel in the USA much.
This is my experience as well. I've travelled a lot internationally, and have had free WiFi everywhere. The last time I went through the US, I went through Dulles airport, and I think there was free WiFi there.
"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert"
(As quoted from a German friend.) And in my small sampling, their airports seem to uphold that motto. And they don't bother you with pathetic forms requiring you to enter your home address (are you listening Heathrow!?!)
Excellent/efficient airport layout/design
Try having to go from one concourse to another, then you'll find out that it's not so good.
As I've said upthread, ATL could learn from DFW on how to do a large airport while minimizing travel between gates.
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Atlanta is the home of many employers that have been stolen from other states by their "economic development" department.
Indeed. Welcome to the 21st century, Atlanta.
As opposed to a hub-like arrangement (DFW), ATL has a series of long concourses linked by that tunnel. If you manage to have one flight on one concourse, and it's clear on the end of the other one, you'll see the problem as clear as day.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.