Why more airports are offering free Wi-Fi ATLANTA: Steve Parker, sitting in the atrium at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport last week, was about to dig into his bag for a hot spot device when he noticed a poster nearby. Wi-Fi Before You Fly. Now Free, it announced. Saving a speck of time and trouble, Parker tapped directly into the service offered by the airport, where fliers without their own Wi-Fi alternative had paid $4.95 per day. Minutes later, Parker, a contractor in the military industry from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, declared the newly unveiled system perfect — easy and painless. All airports should do this, he said. Not all do, but the roll call of free arrangements — entirely at some airports, in combination with premium-paid levels at others — is growing, both domestically and abroad. As airlines tack on fees for ever-fading courtesies, from checked baggage to advance seat selection, airports are headed in the opposite philosophical direction when it comes to Wi-Fi. Of the nations 30 busiest airports, 12 offer all-free internet, up from nine in 2007, according to Boingo Wireless, a leading provider of airport wireless services. A dozen others opt for a tiered plan, with some free access. The shift is also playing out at smaller locations, where the financial and operational challenges are less daunting. For much of society, free Wi-Fi has evolved into a something of a right, and the trend at airports is to treat it as an amenity no different from water fountains, trams and Muzak. Hartsfield-Jacksons general manager, Miguel Southwell, says an airports purpose extends beyond transporting sky-minded passengers to being a catalyst for economic development. A pleasant experience for travelers, which can include free Wi-Fi, could spawn fresh or expanded businesses. We want to exceed customer expectations, Southwell said. The fee-based format generated waves of dissatisfaction. Consumer surveys found that a third of Hartsfield-Jacksons travelers identified the absence of free Wi-Fi as their primary complaint by a wide margin. The switch comes at a steep initial price. Gone is $1.5 million in annual revenue from the pay service, along with $5.6 million appropriated by the Atlanta City Council to cover the design, equipment and installation. Mayor Kasim Reed, who trumpeted the changeover at a news conference staged within a few paces of Parker and others hunched over their portable computers, voiced confidence that some lost revenue would be recouped through more spending at airport establishments. For now, users will be spared online advertising, but such mild annoyances, at least in the form of discount coupons at restaurants and stores, seem inevitable. Some Wi-Fi regulars embrace the free service more to avoid the hassles than the cost. Airports that assess a fee require a credit card number and other information to be entered, as opposed to a couple of clicks with the no-charge approach. Passengers want to be able to select a network and go, not hunt to find the right set of options and buttons to click on, said Seth Miller, an aviation analyst and blogger who is based in New York. It is not the fees that dissuade typical business travelers from paying for Wi-Fi, said Chris McGinnis, a travel industry consultant. They do so out of principle or inconvenience, he said. The free setups will make more honest users out of fliers, McGinnis added. Some are known to position themselves near airport lounges or airlines members-only clubs and use the internet signals. Because the customer load for free Wi-Fi by is as much as 10 times that for the pay version, speeds can become agonizingly slow at times. The bump in bandwidth consumption, and thus sluggishness, is even greater as passengers stream audio and videos. Throw in ads, and it can be almost so commercial and such a poor connection, its almost not worth logging on, McGinnis said. He applauded progress at his home airport, San Francisco International. But for Mary Kirby at her regular spot, Philadelphia International, only the price is right. The Wi-Fi is atrocious, if Im able to access at all, said Kirby, who edits an aviation news website. They are completely capacity-constrained. Although she endorsed the drift toward no-cost Wi-Fi, Kirby added, If offered a choice, many business travelers who need to work on the road would rather pay for a good service versus have a free service that performs poorly. For any queries related to Software Product and Animation please log on to : locustechsoft #locustechsoft
Posted on: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 12:12:51 +0000
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