4 ms·

I don't. Public WiFi is provided by a variety of ISPs, and means you're not beholden to a couple of mobile networks. Monopolies are always bad.

• soylentcola 4y ago
  Where I live in the US, the number of mobile providers outnumbers the number of wired ISPs that provide broadband speeds (even ignoring MVNOs). I generally want to avoid replacing everything with mobile alternatives, but during a recent trip to the UK, I was pleased to find near-ubiquitous coverage via a basic SIM, purchased from a vending machine for £30 that gave me 100GB of data to use during the few weeks I was there. It was overkill, but I pay that much at home for 5GB data and I run into a lot more coverage issues. And at least in theory, it's more likely for competitors to put up their own cell towers than it is to run new fiber alongside existing fiber (even if there aren't prohibitive franchise agreements in place) so I would definitely appreciate better mobile options here as well. Normally I'd never replace a fiber (or even cable) ISP with a mobile hotspot, but for travel, it negated the need to use public wifi for the entire 3 weeks I was traveling.