Get Your Wi-Fi For 'Free,' But You Still Pay a Price
Wherever people go, from airports to hotels to coffee shops near home, Wi-Fi access is being offered for free, for a price.
A contradiction, you say? Let's take a look.
As an answer to the consumer expectation that wireless Internet access be given for free, many business that previously charged a fee for hourly or daily Wi-Fi use have been switching over to service models that combine a kind of advertising-supported access, a loyalty program or a combination of the two.
Airports, such as Denver International, switched from a paid to an ad-supported model last November and the Starbucks chain this spring is switching its Wi-Fi offering from a paid service provided by T-Mobile to service offered by AT&T that gives two hours of free Wi-Fi access per day to customers who use a Starbucks loyalty card at least once per month. (The company says most people only use one hour of service at a time.) Those without the loyalty card still have to pay a fee of $3.99 for two hours or $19.99 for a monthly unlimited access plan.
Clearly, a little caffeine and the free access option are the way the company wants its jittery clientele to go.
Airports and hotels that have switched from a paid to an ad-supported model have seen wireless use increase dramatically, and according to an article last week in the New York Times, the revenue from the advertising outpaces what they previously made by charging customers for the privilege. [Source: The New York Times]
When people talk about the future of wireless communication, they sometimes speak of 4G, which is short for Fourth Generation Communications System. This is a still pretty much undefined area of wireless communications, but simply put, it means fast data, voice, and streaming content everywhere you go at any time. And so its also the topic of much interest for wireless companies, such as AT&T and Verizon, which just announced some of their goals for the 
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