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Public service annoucement:<\/p>\nPublic service annoucement:<\/p>\n
There is no such thing as free wi-fi.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s that I hear you say? How can I possibly say such a thing? How could I tell such an untruth? You could give me a dozen examples of exactly how wrong I am?<\/p>\n
Sorry \u2013 I repeat myself in the face of all your examples: There is. No. Such. Thing. As. Free. Wifi.<\/p>\n
At least not legally. At least not in the sense that you seem to mean it…or think it…<\/p>\n
Allow me to explain what I mean by this:<\/p>\n
Anywhere you go that offers a wifi signal with the possible<\/em> exception of the very rare \u201ccity-wide\u201d wifi signal, which is an elusive beast rather akin to a unicorn and I am tempted to say does not truly exist in any reliable form, and libraries (for which you still have to at least sign up for a library account in most cases) \u2013 there is a cost attached somewhere<\/em>. Or at least there is supposed<\/em> to be.<\/p>\n Y\u2019see, most businesses offer wifi as part of their service. You buy a coffee at your local coffee shop, you get to hook into their wifi signal. You order lunch at the Hard Rock Caf\u00e9 \u2013 they\u2019ll give you their wifi password. Hint: that\u2019s why those passwords exist.<\/em> You check in at a hotel, the privilege of using their wifi signal is part of the price of the room<\/em>. You still paid for the room correct? What I mean by this is that whether you see the cost or not, you are still paying for this service<\/em>. No, your hotel doesn\u2019t offer \u2018free wifi\u201d it offers wifi with the cost of the room, same with your local coffee shop, your grocery store etc etc \u2013 you\u2019re supposed to pay for using their service by making a purchase at their business.<\/em><\/p>\n So yeah, that includes places like starbucks and all those fast food outlets . All those people you see camping outside of Mc\u2019Ds on their phones? Guess what, technically speaking, they\u2019re stealing.\u00a0 Because you are supposed to go in and buy a burger<\/em> to use that signal.<\/p>\n For the record also: no airline doesn\u2019t charge for wifi, they may have a special option to not charge for internet messaging<\/em>, but that\u2019s not the same as full wifi, and again the cost of that has been bundled into the price of your flight<\/em>. You may not see it, but that\u2019s how it works.<\/p>\n This is why we are starting to see more and more businesses enforce passwords on their wifi signal, so that you have<\/em> to purchase in order to obtain access to the system. Because the actual paying customers legitimately purchased the right to use that service and deserve to be able to use it to the best of its capability, which depending on the size of the business and the strength of the signal may not be that great to begin with.\u00a0 It\u2019s why a lot of city wifi now has to have a local account number to go with it so that only locals and subscribers to the provider can use it (that\u2019s what they do in my hometown, no cable account? No city-wifi) \u2013 and why a lot of business are also going so far as to require a local phone number to log in our their signal, to keep tourists for stealing the signal from locals who legitimately have paid for it.<\/p>\n So next time you come up to me and tell me that it\u2019s shameful that the ship doesn\u2019t have free internet when \u201cliterally everywhere else does\u201d \u2013 please check yourself, because if you\u2019re operating completely above board \u2013 there ain\u2019t no such thing as a free lunch.<\/p>\n End public service annoucement.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Public service annoucement: There is no such thing as free wi-fi. What\u2019s that I hear you say? How can I possibly say such a thing? How could I tell such an untruth? You could give me a dozen examples of … Continue reading