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European Union Will Fund Public Wifi (axios.com)

Posted by msmash on from the connectivity-for-all dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The European Union is moving towards getting free public wifi into unconnected locations around the bloc. A new agreement will provide 120 million euros to "fund equipment for public free Wi-Fi services in 6,000 to 8,000 municipalities" across the E.U.

3 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. Starry-eyed idea by Calydor · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Funding hasn't been secured for this, just to start somewhere.

    What kind of speeds are we talking? What kind of data caps? If it's like my current mobile data plan in Germany, 500 MB per month is nothing on today's internet. May as well go without entirely.

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  2. Duh. Can't spy on them if they're not connected. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    We've hit the point where the (depressingly high) percentage of the western world that's willing and able to pay for the privilege of being tracked 24/7 has already done so, so now it's time to pick up the stragglers by giving it away for free. The ones who still refuse will eventually be forced in as it gets increasingly difficult to participate in the modern world without internet access.

  3. Re: How do you plan to pay for this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Dummies who cry free market about these things forget about natural monopolies. We used to understand that you had to regulate natural monopolies, but now we are too stupid to understand that certain businesses aren't really good candidates for the free market with telecom and the internet perfect examples of businesses that should be regulated monopolies