free wifi is good

[crschmidt]

PDX: Free Wifi everywhere. PersonalTelcoProject nodes around every corner. Free Wifi at the airport.
NYC: Free wifi from JetBlue at JFK.
Boston: Free wifi *nowhere*. I swear, you can't get a free wifi spot to save your life in 90% of cambridge. There's only like two hotspots. Insanity.

How is it that towns that are the supposed source of the digital revolution are unable to create an environment where Free Wifi is the standard instead of pay wifi? Is it really so much a difference in the atmosphere between the west and east coasts that free wifi will always be the standard there, and pay wifi here (where here is home, not JFK, which is where I'm at now).

I know Cambridge is doing various things as a city, but there's still a huge number of places in Cambridge that offer wifi for pay instead of free. And I think that is just not cool. Although I'm sure it's just a business thing, but I'm tired of people only caring about the bottom line.

Comments

[ilyzibyth.livejournal.com]

Theres a whole different culture on the West and East coasts about that kind of thing, really. I love Portland. I'm lobbying my mom to move there. Only in part for the airport, really...

I'm not sure what makes that difference in attitude towards things like WiFi; but I like it. Its pervasive. Its the laid-back, self-nurturing, nice-people awesomeness.

[aajwind.livejournal.com]

I was talking about this with my friend Katie the other day. New York has a lot of free wifi spots, but they still aren't enough. I think New York, Boston, LA, DC, New Orleans, Las Vegas, (Paris, Rome, Tokyo, Shang-Hai, Berlin, ... ) etc. should all have free wifi blankets over the entire city. I think it would be worth whatever tax changes would need to be made. Especially New York. It is arguably the capital of the world. Come on.

[nostrademons.livejournal.com]

NYC would also get a really good payoff because the population density is so high. A few hotspots in downtown Manhattan would cover thousands of people.

[ratkrycek.livejournal.com]

Perhaps surprisingly, there's a lot of wifi hotspots in Newport, RI.

Don't know so much about Providence.