UPDATE: Thoughts on Free Wi-Fi

1/12/2010

UPDATE 2: Email? Free. Internet? That'll Cost You.

Good NYT article on what the airlines are doing with internet access on planes. I found it encouraging that most of the big carriers are moving forward with Wi-Fi installation. Also, found it interesting how Continental is approaching the topic: testing a full internet capability and an email/text messaging capability with DirecTV.

12/16/2009

UPDATE: "McDonald's Adds Free Wi-Fi to the Menu"

Well, not sure if it's a victory, but I think it might be. McDonald's, obviously, has a lot of presence in the marketplace. I might be more inclined to go into McDonald's -- hopefully, not to eat the food. The way I see it, if I am more inclined to spend more time at McDonald's, I assume more folks will, too. It will be interesting to see the McDonald's return on investment with this, and to see if others follow. I think McDonald's is going to reap benefits here, and it will be a case study for the "If you offer free Wi-Fi, they will come."

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June 2009

It's been a while since I have done any significant traveling, but recently I have been on planes and trains and staying at hotels. In the time since I last actively traveled, smartphones and netbooks have become prolific. I have one of each and with 3G connectivity I am never far from the network. But what about the free Wi-Fi revolution?

It kind of surprised me that businesses have yet to figure out the Wi-Fi mystery: if you build a FREE Wi-Fi network, people will come. The fact that businesses are still trying to charge for this service is kind of mind-boggling.

A good example is McDonald's. Walk into most McDonald's these days and right on the door is a sign advertising Wi-Fi. The catch is that they want to charge you for the service. When was the last time you saw someone pull out their laptop in McDonald's?

Another example is Starbucks. It's pretty difficult to drive more than a few miles these days and not drive by a Starbucks -- they are everywhere; the preeminent coffee shop in the world. But they still have not solved the Wi-Fi mystery. Sure, Starbucks has Wi-Fi, but it's provided by T-Mobile and AT&T and Starbucks wants to charge you for it. Now, to be sure, there are people in Starbucks coffee shops connected to Wi-Fi on laptops and smartphpones, but there probably would be more, buying more expensive drinks and snacks, if Starbucks provided Wi-Fi as a complimentary service.

How about hotels? Most budget and mid-scale hotel chains are now providing free Wi-Fi access, but the definition of access is open to wide interpretation. Some have great, four-bar access in rooms, while others advertise free Wi-Fi, but it can only be reliably accessed from the lobby. Upscale hotels are a different story with most still charging for this service. I find this silly and, all things being equal, avoid upscale hotels in search of free access to Wi-Fi when I travel.

I'm no frequent flier, but in the past few months I've been to airports in Jacksonville, NC, Charlotte, NYC, Flint, Milwaukee, and Chicago. If my brain serves me correct, all these airports offered Wi-Fi through the Boingo network, which appears to service many different airports. It's a service you must pay for. I'm on the fence here because you can't choose an airport like a restaurant, coffee shop or hotel, so from a capitalist perspective you have a captive audience and it makes sense to charge for the service. But as a consumer, I would like to see free Wi-Fi at airports.

A company named Aircell is currently fitting U.S. airplanes with Wi-Fi connectivity. By the end of this year, Aircell plans to have one thousand planes Wi-Fi enabled and is planning on having two thousand on line by the end of next year. The price to outfit each plane is roughly one hundred thousand dollars. Airlines are planning to charge for this service, with per flight rates for occasional travelers and monthly subscription rates for frequent travelers. Much like the airports, initially charging for this service makes sense. However, as more airlines come on line, this service should become a commodity. I know I would most likely choose to fly an airline that offered free Wi-Fi over one that did not. Airlines, are you listening...?

Wi-Fi on trains is spotty. Many business commuter rails are beginning to offer Wi-Fi, which is a good thing. But Amtrak provides Wi-Fi service only on some of its routes. I would think that eventually Amtrak will start outfitting more of its trains with Wi-Fi, especially since the airline industry is beginning to come on board. Time will tell.

In the short term, I can understand charging a nominal fee for Wi-Fi access in airports and on planes and trains, but as this market matures, Wi-Fi service should be expected for free. As for restaurants, coffee shops and hotels, Wi-Fi should be a "no brainer" complimentary service. If restaurants, coffee shops, and hotels are not already offering free Wi-Fi, they are probably already losing customers, and missing out on those that would come through the door for the free service.

UPDATE: What Gordon Gekko Can Teach Us About Smartphones

UPDATE: "Morgan Stanley: Mobile Internet Market Will Be Twice The Size of Desktop Internet" and With a New Phone, Google May Challenge Apple"

I found these articles interesting because they speak to my "If your are not connected, you are not connected" philosophy. The Morgan Stanley study is pretty definitive about the projected growth of the smartphone. Google's recent overtures into building a smartphone, as opposed to just supplying the Android operating system for them, is telling of how important they think the future smartphone market will be. It's coming folks... Eventually, being constantly connected to a network is going to be the the rule, and not the exception.

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June 2009

TECHNOLOGY: "Smartphone Rises from Gadget to Necessity," by Steve Lohr, New York Times, 10 June 2009.

For a growing swath of the population, the social expectation is that one is nearly always connected and reachable almost instantly via e-mail. The smartphone, analysts say, is the instrument of that connectedness — and thus worth the cost, both as a communications tool and as a status symbol.

If someone would have asked me two years ago if I would spend my money to buy a smartphone, I would have told them they were crazy. I've been issued Blackberrys for work, and that is how I got my first "taste" of, what I refer to as, my "mobile brain." However, I wasn't ready to spend my hard-earned money on a personal smartphone. Then I began commuting to work in DC on the train/metro and AT&T offered me a Blackberry for thirty dollars -- it's been all down hill since then.

I used the Blackberry for about seven months and then traded up to an iPhone. I couldn't survive without it now. My personal and professional lives depend on having constant access to the network.

Some may scoff at this notion, but before you pass judgment ask yourself: Could you survive without your cell phone? I would venture that many would say yes they could, but if you dig deep and really think about how much you rely on your cell phone, I think you would have to admit that it would be difficult.

It's the same way with a smartphone, which is essentially a cell phone on steroids. The main difference between a regular cell phone and a smartphone is the smartphone's data plan, which provides access to the internet.

Now, let me cut to what I really want to talk about, which is the nature of the world some live in now, and most soon will live in in the future. The days of constant connectivity are coming, and it's going to be very difficult to avoid it. Sure, you can go Ted Kazinsky and check out of society -- please don't send letter bombs to people -- but few are disciplined enough to pull this off.

For the rest of us, we're going to be expected to be connected ALL the time. Just look at the rise of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. We are living in the age of the constant stream of information -- real time information. I've said it before, knowledge is power; those that have the knowledge, have the power and the advantage. Being constantly plugged into the network is the means for obtaining the knowledge. Smartphones are becoming the delivery mechanism for maintaining the constant stream of information.

Gordon Gekko, Michael Douglas's character in the movie Wall Street said it best. In a discussion with Bud Fox, Charlie Sheen's character, Gekko said, "The most valuable commodity I know of is information. Wouldn't you agree?" Gekko proceeds to tell Fox that if he wants to be a player he needs to start getting information. He finishes the discussion by telling Fox, "If you are not inside, you are outside."

My point here is that it's important to feed your brain, and more and more this is happening through smartphone-like devices. To paraphrase Gordon Gekko: If you are not connected, you are not connected.

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