Wifi will be free everywhere when we don’t need it anymore

  By Tac Anderson | June 9, 2009 - 8:53 am |

whats more fun than a cardboard box?
This rant is inspired by Jeremiah’s post Hotels: Don’t Charge Us For Internet Use. (If you travel much, he also has some listed resources that you should check out)

I’m happy to say that after a month of being a bachelor in Bellevue (sounds like a bad reality show knock off) I finally have my family back with me.

I flew out on Friday to pick them up and drive back (we drove because it was easier than trying to fly the dog). It was a major pain to find a hotel that would give us two connected rooms, and allowed pets. We found the Hilton owned Double Tree properties to be nice and accommodating.

The Double Tree in Boise gave us free Internet access. It wasn’t wifi but it was free. The Double Tree in Seattle charged for Internet access but had free wifi in the pool area and the lobby. WTF? That’s just plain annoying.

Although I have to wonder how much longer free wifi will be an issue. I think it will be ubiquitous about the time it becomes irrelevant. With WiMax coming, the proliferation of Smart Phones and their increased Internet capabilities as well as the newest trend of data-enabled netbooks and laptops, it could only be a matter of time before we won’t need wifi.

We’ll all just be perpetually wired.


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About Tac Anderson

Social media anthropologist. Communications strategist. Business model junkie. Chief blogger here at New Comm Biz.
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  • http://guestnetworks.com/ nocboss

    The fundamental mistake here is that WiMax will never be free. It can't be because it uses a licensed band that the carrier has to pay the government for.

    WiMax *to the end user device* will also never be as fast as WiFi when WiFi is done right – which is not the case at MANY hotels. We've added a second circuit to many of the hotels we support to provide more bandwidth, but the hoteliers aren't in a big hurry to increase their monthly expenses.

    Want a good WiFi experience at a hotel? Call in advance to ask them who supports it, and call that company to get the throughput per user. You can ask about coverage, but what you REALLY want to know is capacity – how many Access Points are there?

    If the service provider can't or won't tell you – then you've got a pretty good idea what your experience is going to be.

    Want great wireless and great support on the road? Stay here:
    http://guestnetworks.com/Locations