Mobile working Toolkit
Story: London gets a mile of free Wi-Fi
Posted by: Anonymous (Monday 23 October 2006, 7:23 AM)
Moving to London from British Columbia a year ago I was surprised that one of the greatest cities in the world had so little public WIFI coverage. I was shocked to find it so costly where it did exist. In many Canadian locations WIFI is free and open . For example, http://vancouver.wifimug.org/ lists over 100 restaurants etc offering free WIFI in Vancouver. Shops benefit from an increase in customer traffic and more targeted advertising. There may be no additional cost as it is either advertiser supportive or piggybacked upon the business' existing service. Public buildings and others offering free WIFI see an improvement to their services and greater customer/citizen satisfaction. London and its boroughs seem to have lost the plot on tihis one so far. A mile of free WIFI is great but why not an entirely wired city (free of course?) We could begin by complaining to Starbucks etc that they need to offer free wireless rather than the very expenisve T Moblie service they now have on offer. If they won't do it, move over to Costa and so on. Eventually one of these businesses will cave into the demands of its customers.
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