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I think people have been saying exactly this for over a decade.

by blhack 14y ago

niggler 14y ago
Panera introduced free wifi in 2005. Starbucks introduced free wifi in 2010. Nowadays pretty much every coffeeshop IN THE US offers free wifi. There's demonstrable progress and the pace is picking up. EDIT: added clarification that I was referring to the US.
- jonknee 14y ago
  And yet where I am now has no public WiFi. It has a strong LTE signal. Guess which is more useful to me?
  - niggler 14y ago
    I intended to focus on the US, and I didn't mean to suggest 100% coverage (which is why I said 99%)
    - jonknee 14y ago
      I'm in the US. In a large metro area even. I find myself using the iPad for its LTE connection very often.
- wmil 14y ago
  Officially Starbucks has free WiFi, but in my experience it's down more often than it's up. I don't do much travelling, so this is very Toronto centric, but most free WiFi just doesn't work.
  - niggler 14y ago
    "... this is very Toronto centric ..." American here. Forgot that not everyone is based in the US, heh. Updated parent
- potatolicious 14y ago
  There's progress, but we're a very, very long way from ubiquitous WiFi. With more and more users moving towards cellular usage anyways (tablets and phones), and away from laptops, the pressure to get WiFi everywhere is slackening. When I was visiting family in Vancouver over Xmas - a modern, large city by any measure - I had no data plan (I'm US-based), and for the first time in a long time found myself looking for WiFi everywhere I went. Let's just say that the availability of WiFi in public spaces is still very limited.
  - niggler 14y ago
    "... Vancouver ..." I intended to make the claim for the United States, forgetting that not everyone here is based in the US :/ Updated parent reply to reflect that I intended to mean United States.
    - potatolicious 14y ago
      I've lived in Seattle, SF, and NYC, and the same can be said for all of them. WiFi is not at all ubiquitous. There are destinations with reliable(ish) WiFi, but it is a ludicrously long way from having something handy wherever you might decide to plop your butt down for a few minutes. And it's not getting better - not when connectivity has been moving heavily towards cellular rather than WiFi. The pressure for coffee shops, restaurants, and public spaces to get WiFi was largely fueled by an explosion in laptop usage - that usage has, and continues to, rapidly disappear into phones. FYI, Vancouver is pretty like any American city. Speaks English, has tall buildings, has a subway system, has running water, and a conspicuous absence of igloos ;) Please don't take "not in the US" to mean "underdeveloped".

I think people have been saying exactly this for over a decade.

by blhack 14y ago

I think people have been saying exactly this for over a decade.

Panera introduced free wifi in 2005. Starbucks introduced free wifi in 2010. Nowadays pretty much every coffeeshop IN THE US offers free wifi. There's demonstrable progress and the pace is picking up. EDIT: added clarification that I was referring to the US.

jonknee 14y ago
And yet where I am now has no public WiFi. It has a strong LTE signal. Guess which is more useful to me?
- niggler 14y ago
  I intended to focus on the US, and I didn't mean to suggest 100% coverage (which is why I said 99%)
  - jonknee 14y ago
    I'm in the US. In a large metro area even. I find myself using the iPad for its LTE connection very often.
wmil 14y ago
Officially Starbucks has free WiFi, but in my experience it's down more often than it's up. I don't do much travelling, so this is very Toronto centric, but most free WiFi just doesn't work.
- niggler 14y ago
  "... this is very Toronto centric ..." American here. Forgot that not everyone is based in the US, heh. Updated parent
potatolicious 14y ago
There's progress, but we're a very, very long way from ubiquitous WiFi. With more and more users moving towards cellular usage anyways (tablets and phones), and away from laptops, the pressure to get WiFi everywhere is slackening. When I was visiting family in Vancouver over Xmas - a modern, large city by any measure - I had no data plan (I'm US-based), and for the first time in a long time found myself looking for WiFi everywhere I went. Let's just say that the availability of WiFi in public spaces is still very limited.
- niggler 14y ago
  "... Vancouver ..." I intended to make the claim for the United States, forgetting that not everyone here is based in the US :/ Updated parent reply to reflect that I intended to mean United States.
  - potatolicious 14y ago
    I've lived in Seattle, SF, and NYC, and the same can be said for all of them. WiFi is not at all ubiquitous. There are destinations with reliable(ish) WiFi, but it is a ludicrously long way from having something handy wherever you might decide to plop your butt down for a few minutes. And it's not getting better - not when connectivity has been moving heavily towards cellular rather than WiFi. The pressure for coffee shops, restaurants, and public spaces to get WiFi was largely fueled by an explosion in laptop usage - that usage has, and continues to, rapidly disappear into phones. FYI, Vancouver is pretty like any American city. Speaks English, has tall buildings, has a subway system, has running water, and a conspicuous absence of igloos ;) Please don't take "not in the US" to mean "underdeveloped".