Wednesday, April 7, 2004

Free the WIFi! (Redux) TechDirt checks in on WiFi hotspot economics, again: Understanding The Economics Of WiFi Pricing. Last year, we wrote up a longer piece describing the basic economics of WiFi hotspots, where the conclusion was that it was going to be nearly impossible for anyone to make any money if they charged. . . . WiFi Networking News points to a great analysis from Muniwireless where they both conclude "how can you afford to charge?" . . . Even while reports are warning that high prices are hurting Europe's chances in the WiFi revolution, the folks at BT are so clueless that they actually believe that there's no reason to lower prices. . . . [Techdirt] I've been checking out the availability of WiFi in Austria in preparationg for the CHI conference the end of this month. There seems to be a hotspot in every cafe in Vienna. All served by Metronet, which has been taken over recently by T-Mobile. Who's charging big bucks, er, Euros. If I read the site right (in German), it's on the order of 8 Euros an hour (over $10), or 25 Euros for 24-hour pass. That's pretty steep--over $30. Compare that to Surf-n-Sip at something like $5 a day in the Bay Area. Meanwhile, the CHI2004 logistics team plans to provide WiFi in as much of the conference facility as possible; I'm supplying my Airport Extreme base station to the effort. 2:06:21 PM    Questions? Comments? Flames? []

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