7 ms·
This has huge psychological implications, similar to not carrying a passport while crossing borders and paying with the same coins everywhere: All these measure
by netrus 13y ago
This has huge psychological implications, similar to not carrying a passport while crossing borders and paying with the same coins everywhere:
All these measures help to get the feeling that Europe is indeed one place, one community. Weekend trips to other countries are not a privilege of the 1 percent over here, more like the top 30-50%. I love to see what is happening right now, and I'm confident it will survive any current crisis. Maybe without the UK, but continental Europe is sufficient great for me ;)
- morganwilde 13y agoAs far as I'm concerned, this is bigger than the freedom of physical movement within the EU country borders. Now our data will move with us!
- _delirium 13y agoI don't think I'd go that far! It's an added convenience, but my data already moves with me through the EU, since non-phone internet access (coffee shops, libraries, McDonald's, 7-11, hotels, etc.) is pretty widespread.
- skrause 13y agoIt seems that you haven't traveled to Germany yet. Public Wifi is barely available because of legal risks and hotels still try to charge you something like 10 euro for a day of internet access. When I went to Dublin in Ireland the situation was almost as bad.
- _delirium 13y agoInteresting; I indeed haven't traveled to Germany. The internet situation has been pretty good in the eight European countries I've been to recently, though: Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Greece, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France. In a number of them the government even provides easy-to-find free internet (any library in Paris or Copenhagen, the main public spaces of Helsinki or Heraklion, and so on).
- bergie 13y agoOn the hotel WiFis, the rule of thumb seems to be that the more expensive the hotel, the costlier and crappier the WiFi will be. Most cheap family-run hotels and all hostels have free and good WiFi.
- markhacker 13y agoThis. Hostels world-wide in allegedly 3rd world countries regularly have free wifi - and fast! Yet in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, first-world western countries, free-wifi is rubbish or non-existent on the whole.
- r00fus 13y agoI believe the reasoning is solid: most high-priced consultants and business travelers stay at decent hotels, and the $10/day is an easily expensed item. Sucks for those of us who also like higher end hotels for personal travel, though.
- jdotjdot 13y agoActually the trend these days is aircards... Never even get as far as checking out the hotel wifi.
- dagw 13y agoWidespread in some major cities. Last month I visited some family in a small town in Germany, and the only WiFi available was at the hotel, and it was not free.
- _delirium 13y agoYeah, I'm learning that Germany is an exception. It's not just major cities in the rest of Europe, though. In Sweden you can find free wifi even in small towns, because every 7-11 and every McDonald's in the whole country provides it, not to mention most coffee shops and libraries.
- lmm 13y agoSweden is exceptionally socialist even by European standards. I can well believe free wifi would be common there, and in the rest of scandinavia, but not in "mainland" Europe.
- _delirium 13y agoI suppose I don't see how multinational corporations like McDonald's or 7-11 providing wifi has a socialist angle to it. Isn't that more just the free market operating? They offer wifi because they think it brings in business, and the Scandinavian countries have fairly free markets that don't stand in their way when they want to do so. The German-style regulations discouraging establishments from offering wifi through onerous regulations seem to be the more statist outliers.
- lmm 13y agoSuccessful multinational corporations adapt their model to fit local cultures. The socialist culture in Scandanavia means people expect and reward businesses that offer free wifi; McDonald's/7-11 do it to remain competitive. I doubt it's the regulatory environment that makes the difference between Germany and Sweden - Sweden is also quite strongly regulated. And in other European countries where there is low regulation but an absence of socialist tradition (e.g. Italy) you don't see a whole lot of free wifi (or didn't when I was last there).
- morganwilde 13y agoYes, OK, if you travel to a country with Starbucks, you can walk 10 minutes (if you're in central London or other bigger cities) or 30-60 minutes to the nearest one. But we live in the smartphone age, I want to be able to use all my apps everywhere I go, the way I'm used to back home. What's the point of all those hyper local apps if you need an immobile wi-fi connection to access them.
- ValentineC 13y agoCertain Starbucks branches in some countries don't have free wifi. (I know for a fact that the one 100m away from me right now doesn't.)
- omegant 13y agoStarbucks at Berkeley St. in London doesn´t have free wifi, you have to buy credit. I don´t know the rest of the starbucks in London are the same..
- CWIZO 13y agoSo far I haven't found any starbucks that wouldn't have free wifi in London. Well, apart from the small wooden one at the Liverpool street station enterance (but that is to be expected sincie it's a, well, a wooden box:)
- bergie 13y agoIn my experience, public WiFi access has been getting more scarce. This is probably caused by the combination of cheaper and more widespread 3G, and the FUD from record labels that people will use your access point for child porn, and you'll go to jail. Currently I usually buy a prepaid data SIM if I travel to another European country. But this is a bother if you're going to be there just for a day or two.
- bad_user 13y agoThe two are tightly related, although physical movement is more important because in absence of it you waist a lot of time to get a Visa and there's always the possibility that you might not get it, whereas with roaming charges it's only a matter of convenience and price. Btw, whenever I travel within EU one of the first things I do after landing would be to get a PrePay card. In European countries PrePay offers are really good and sometimes better than PostPay contracts. If anything, I fear that this will favour an oligopoly of the big ones, like Vodafone and Orange, with no real benefit to me, a user accustomed with searching for good local PrePay offers.
- ronaldx 13y agoYes: of course this benefits large, incumbent service providers. Smaller providers will find it difficult to compete now that they are obliged to offer the same level of service, at the same cost, to people travelling throughout the EU. This ultimately excludes the possibility of cheaper local services: I find it a surprising move from the EU who should act to prevent anti-competitive practices.
- Bosence 13y agoThere's nothing saying that they have to provide coverage, just the same price.
- ronaldx 13y agoA new upstart has Hobson's choice between: - being price-fixed locally by Vodafone's pan-European wholesale prices and therefore being unable to compete effectively. or: - forbidding customers roaming coverage and therefore being unable to compete effectively.
- ed_blackburn 13y agoAs you allude; unless you live in the UK where the media shove it down our throats that we're special and don't need that level of co-operation, integration and instead should leave the EU (and presumably be a de-facto additional US state). For those of us in the UK that do visit Europe or wish to speak to people in Europe with Google Hangout, Skype etc. this is excellent news, as it presumably is for all Europeans.
- duiker101 13y agoI'd like to disagree with you, it might be true that the media try to make you think you are special but the truth is different, I am an Italian that has recently moved to the UK and I found the transition EXCEPTIONALLY smooth. Really, it is like I moved to any other city in Italy, I had no problem with documents, registration or anything. You are welcome and is totally normal to move in/out. EDIT: I speak of personal experience, I can't really talk too much about Eastern Europe people but I have met many people coming from there and I didn't hear any specific complains.
- Bosence 13y agoI'd imagine it's a bit different from eastern Europe, sadly.
- visarga 13y agoActually Eastern Europeans can travel easily wherever they desire with a passport or a national ID card, no need for visas. Some countries are not using the Euro though, and it has protected them from the economic crisis to a degree.
- ardit33 13y agoI am from Albania (not part of EU, but trying to get in), and travel to Schengen treaty countries is easy. Just show with your passport and no visa is needed. Working and long term stay is another matter. For the UK, and some countries that are not part of the accord, I do need to have a visa, and it is PITA. It usually involved going to embassy, paying some fee, providing documents, convincing the consular you are not doing anything shady, or going to overstay, or whatever. Not fun, especially if you are just trying to do a few days short visit.
- 4ad 13y agoYou need a passport (or other form of government issued-ID), you don't need a visa.
- david_p 13y agoAny valid ID (free) vs. a Passport (86 euros, in France) makes a huge difference to many people I believe !
- 4ad 13y agoIn Romania IDs are not free either :-). If you come from an underdeveloped country (precisely where the cost of a passport can pose a problem) you'll soon find out that many EU countries won't let you in only with a national ID; they want a passport. For Romanian/Bulgarian/etc citizens roaming through Europe without a passport is not a very smart move, even if you go to countries that accept only the ID.
- TillE 13y agoYou may technically be required to carry an ID, but at least on the train nobody's checking it.
- 4ad 13y agoDepends on the country, try to travel to or from Romania or Bulgaria next time ;). Not only that they check the ID, but they sometimes check the baggage as well, and when they do that it's a sign that they will find something and cause you trouble unless you discretely pass them 25EUR...
- Nux 13y agoAs a Romanian national who has used the train extensively I cannot testify to that. Not once was I asked for an ID and the "25EUR" (usually much less) is for when you don't have a ticket; though I notice the "practice" diminishing.
- darklajid 13y ago
- ekianjo 13y agoToo bad this occurs when the Eurozone is taking the plunge :) There may not be an unique currency still left in Europe 10 years down the road.