Wi-Fi hotspots

Posted on 14 Aug 2007 at 14:54

Scandalous access fees

The beauty of wireless hotspots was supposed to be easy access on the move, preferably for free, but the sad truth is free roaming access has been trampled by large corporations intent on milking the public for as much money as possible. Although there's a smattering of free hotspots, they're vastly outnumbered by services run by The Cloud, T-Mobile and BT Openzone, where access can cost an expense-account busting £6 per hour. The situation is particularly bad at airports, where business travellers are a captive audience with hours to kill between flights.

"The prices I've had to pay for access in the UK are the highest in Europe," says Joe Brunoli, vice president of free-hotspots.com. "If all that you want to do is check your email it's ridiculous that you have to pay £6 [the standard voucher rate at most Wi-Fi hotspots].

"Travellers are starting to revolt and we're seeing that eight out of ten travellers think access should be free, especially in hotels," Brunoli claims. "If you're paying £200 a night for a room, you shouldn't need to pay more for a connection."

Industry experts say it's high time prices were reduced. "There hasn't been any major fall in pricing and it should have halved," according to Mark Carter, business development director at wireless specialist Connect Spot. "The majority of usage across networks is voucher based. There's been a push for subscription plans, but this doesn't really help the average Wi-Fi user who wants a quick 30 minutes to check up on stuff between meetings."

Critics point to the ever-decreasing costs of both broadband and wireless kit as evidence that prices should fall. "The cost of setting up a hotspot service has tumbled and you can set one up with just £50 worth of equipment and broadband is cheaper, too," says Brunoli. "And the number of people wanting to use services has increased, especially with all the phones, cameras and MP3 players that now include Wi-Fi, so the costs should be spread more thinly between customers."

BT justifies its prices, despite the fact that many smaller operators offer free Wi-Fi, on ongoing costs relating to the network. "Our business proposition is different to offering Wi-Fi in a café or library," BT's chief of mobility and convergence Steve Andrews told PC Pro. "For instance, in some of our hotels we've installed a 34Mb/sec backhaul link to ensure a consistent quality service, and you get a 24-hour-a-day helpdesk, network management and other aspects to ensure you get a secure and reliable network."

The hotspot providers also offer monthly subscription packages, yet these often cost just as much as a home broadband connection. T-Mobile charges £20 for a month's "unlimited" access to the company's hotspots. The Cloud offers a £12 monthly "Ultra Wi-Fi" pass, but you only get that price with a year-long contract, which costs the best part of £150.

Solution: Visit www.free-hotspot.com for details of free hotspots across the globe. Although free hotspots are comparatively scarce compared with the thousands of paid-for access points, there are 415 of them in the UK, with 100 in London alone.

Try to avoid buying hotspot vouchers, as these are the most expensive means of access. BT Openzone's £10 for 250 minutes is a fair price, especially when compared to its daily or hourly rates.

Wireless waste

Another annoyance for Wi-Fi warriors is the way access is billed, which makes it almost impossible to actually get what you pay for. Take a businessman with half-an-hour to kill between meetings, who wants to check his email. He buys an hour's voucher for £6 from BT Openzone and uses £3 of his credit. The next day he's in the same position, but can't use the voucher because it expired 24 hours after his first login.