I know I’m in the minority, but I really don’t want ads with my WiFi. Personally, I’d rather pay and get a really good and consistent experience, or just check-in and turn on or have it done right the way AT&T has done it with Starbucks, where you’re being gifted the access for your loyalty, but you know the service is going to be rock solid. In this case the WiFi is really an amenity service.
I’ve used the so called “free” hotspot service in various places around the world. Paris, France and at Denver’s airport experiences come to mind most of all. My “free-hotspot.com” and at other “gratuit” type service locations the experience has been variable. In Paris’ Cafe du Metro, every thirty minutes or so, I would be logged off. Sometimes that was right in the middle of sending an email. I would have to flag down the waiter, he would have to go get me a new code, and I’d have to log on all over again. At the Brasserie de Bastille, the waiter had to go find the person who knew where the codes were, so as I sipped espresso I had to wait to log on, but eventually did.
In Denver’s airport it was worse. I logged on when i got off my inbound flight, waited to connect. Finally did and had to watch an ad. Then, as I walked to the connecting gate after shutting I lost the signal. I got to my next flights gate and reconnected. Guess what? I had to watch another advertisement. Time lost between the two ads (with a very tight connection) was over a minute. What’s more the speeds were so bad I couldn’t download a video mail message or listen to my voice mail.
And when I said something to the airline person at the counter they said “we don’t supply that.” In my mind that’s kind of a cop out too. You see, we pay a passenger facility charge, and in Denver, ad or no ad, I didn’t feel facilitated. On another trip to through Denver the speeds were so slow I ended up taking out my 3G card and simply worked that way. I was able to download video and listen to my voice mail and I didn’t have to watch any bad ads.
The experiences I have with T-Mobile whom I pay $19.95 a month to, and with Boingo (now an agency client) at $21.95 (North America) and $39.95 (Global) are if nothing else, consistent. I get live tech support from each, and if a hotspot is having an issue, can call and report it. At a free hotspot there’s no one to usually call as a user, and you end up getting more often than not, what you paid for.