Airport Wi-Fi is daylight robbery

As I write this I’m sat in Edinburgh airport, not connected to the internet, just me and my Vaio. I’d almost forgotten what it was like to not have access to the internet, everywhere I go I either have Wi-Fi access or at least my dongle (which I’ve recently given up on – it was on three and the reception was dreadful). OK if it came down to it my iPhone does all the important stuff, but it’s just not the same.

Years ago when the internet became popular we got excited. Later on when wireless came out we thought we’d reached the peak of all things technological. Wireless was embraced by businesses everywhere and it became almost standard procedure for coffee shops, restaurants and cafes to offer free Wi-Fi. One company I highly commend for this is McDonalds, Ronald and the gang have really done the IT world proud with every one of their restaurants offering Wi-Fi. Starbucks, home of the marketing worker with that funny accent that you can’t quite place, have failed us all with their limited support. They have T-Mobile but that’s no really any good as it charges you far too much. Airports generally offer a provider who specialise in hotspots in airports but again its £100 per MB, and the cloud aren’t any better.

Airports are the one place I believe Wi-Fi should be readily available. Hundreds of business people pass through every day; people want email, facebook, online CRM systems and VPNs.

I don’t know what to suggest, I alone cannot make the airports stop charging. Far too many people are making far too much money for that decision to be taken lightly, but all I can do is boycott their extortionate hotspots and stick with a USB dongle, which is cheaper than a subscription to the vast majority of providers which cannot even nearly match the coverage.

Submitted 14 ^th March 2009