In the gadget-dependent, always-on world of the early 21st century, do you have a right to a Wi-Fi signal? The answer isn’t just “yes.” I think every public area, whether it’s the inside of a plane, a hotel room, a train, or an airport terminal has the obligation to offer a high-speed signal — for free.
Don’t laugh. One hundred years ago, a hotel room with plumbing and electricity was considered a luxury. Fifty years ago, you might have paid extra for accommodations with a private bathroom. And 25 years ago, a color TV was a bonus.
Back in 2001, only early adopters like business travelers tapped in to high-speed Internet connections from laptops in hotels or airports. But today, even cell phones offer a Wi-Fi option. (The Web browser on my iPhone is pretty much useless unless there is a wireless access point nearby.)
Yet when I checked into the Renaissance M Street Hotel in Washington yesterday and tried to fire up my laptop, I was asked to fork over $9.95 for a “connection period” that gave me a few hours of bandwidth. Finding an electronic tollbooth at this otherwise nice new hotel was annoying, but not as vexing as the hotspots at Washington’s National Airport that demanded roughly the same amount of money for what amounted to a few minutes of connectivity.
When you fly out of Orlando International Airport, where the Wi-Fi is free, and are used to staying at properties where the signal comes standard with the room — as I am — I guess you assume that everyone in the travel industry gets it.
They don’t. Wi-Fi is still thought of as an add-on, like a spa treatment or a latte ordered from an airport coffee shop.
It will probably take one or two major hotel chains and airlines making wireless access free, system-wide (not just at select properties or flights) before the travel industry reaches that level of understanding.
Wi-Fi is, for lack of a better term, a right.
But wait, doesn’t it cost money to install access points everywhere? Sure, it does. But so does installing bathrooms, plumbing, electricity and TV screens — items once considered luxuries but that are now standard almost everywhere you travel.
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t know so much if I’d call Wi-Fi a “right”, but network is definitely a “utility”, much like water, power, cable, etc…
It’s amazing how many hotels still charge for network… and even more amazing is how many STILL only have wired internet access, not even WiFi….
I want to see more hotels and properties have it as a standard part of the package, not an add-on… (at the Marriott Prague, ’standard’ internet access works out to be around $30US per day, and that’s only 1.5 megabit maximum… if you want the ‘premium’ package, which guarantees 4.5 megabit, you’re looking at $90US per day! And this is on top of your regular room rate!)
Even McDonalds is getting it right with giving one hour of Wi-Fi free with the purchase of an Extra Value Meal!
Amen, brother… amen to that!
With the astronomical Airport fee, Departure Fee, the Airport autorities has enough money to provide the WiFi free of charges. It will take more money to collect the fees they want to charge for using WiFi.
“A right without an attendant responsibility is as unreal as a sheet of paper which has only one side.” — Felix Morley, editor of the Washington Post 1933-1940, Pulitzer Prize winner
While access may be a convenience it is hardly a “right”, especially when one realizes that entitlements demand a corresponding enslavement of those who are expected to provide those rights.
I am in favor of public space access but I believe that calling it a right is pandering to the culture of selfishness. Any and all genuine rights have their foundation in a moral authority as is cited in the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are said to be God given rights that do not require a corresponding liability on our fellow man to provide for them. As Bejamin Franklin said: “The U.S. Constitution guarantees every American the right to the pursuit of happiness, but we must catch it for ourselves.”
GS
I stay at Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express. They almost always have free wireless access in the rooms, lobby, bar, wherever you want to be. Plus, I get lots of points for free stays.
Why stay at those fancy places that give you nothing? I pay less and get more.
I’m w/you, Chris. Just spent the night at the Seattle Airport Hilton. Lovely new hotel. But they wanted $9.95 for wi-fi. Puh-leeze. I asked about business center…which they said was run by 3rd party and also charged. I asked the lovely staff at the desk if other guests complain…or am I the first one. “Oh, everyone complains all the time,” she said. I asked if the GM cared. She said “Sure, but it’s a corporate decision.” OMG. Gimme a break. I stole all the soap in the bathroom. And then I went over to the Radisson’s lobby next door, where they offered free wi-fi. Shame on Hilton.
Funny to see Scott McMurren, the Alaskan travel guru, post right before this!
I’m not sure I view WiFi as a right–in a capitalist country likes ours, you have the choice, as I do, to spend $60-80 per month for EVDO or another 3G wireless service to reduce your reliance on free WiFi hot spots. But providing free WiFi certainly should be viewed by corporations as a good business practice.
Here’s an example: the corporate Starbucks stores here in Anchorage offer WiFi for a fee. The locally-owned and operated Café Del Mundo (in addition to serving better coffee) provides free WiFi. Guess where I go?
And when I need to go somewhere and veg on the Internet (or work on homework) and I’m craving a burger, I’ll pick Chili’s over Red Robin because Chili’s has free WiFi.
(Now that I have an EVDO card, I’m not quite as choosy about where I go to eat or drink coffee–I can now eat at the Arctic Roadrunner and still have all of the modern conveniences (except they don’t take credit cards)–but EVDO is buggy enough that it’s still a factor.)
To elaborate on Chris’s example: I’m not sure you could argue that it is a God-given right to have plumbing or electricity. But if a hotel seriously did not have electric lights or a toilet, how many people do you think would stay there? These things are not things that should be legislated, but any company that did not provide these amenities would be shooting themselves in their feet.
Businesses need to realize that by not spending $50 per month on high-speed Internet and $50 on a cheap LinkSys wireless router from Best Buy, they’re potentially losing thousands of dollars of revenue each month. Granted, the infrastructure and access costs to provide WiFi at a 10-story hotel are higher than at a 2,000 square foot restaurant, but over the long run, enough people are going to make their choice based on the availability and cost of wireless (or even wired) networks that the investment would have paid for itself many times over. I’ll bet you Scott will gladly pick the Radisson over the Hilton next time he flies through Seattle (which is a lot). It always puzzles me why companies would NOT want to provide free wireless.
The Other Chris