HOW COME IT SO EXPENCIVE!!!\ granted they can charge this ammount for it but come one, $5 for 15mins of internet time in Torronto Airport. AND they dont even allow you to borrow or even rent a power adaptor so i can get the cheaper internet access via my laptop. My god this is annoying. Mods, delete if you want. i just needed to rant EDIT:: AND how come they can afford to give you all the booze and snacks you want and still charge for internet access... $5 for 15 mins and $10 for and hour!
Hm - when I travel with my laptop, I always bring the power adapter with me.... That being said, and along similar lines - What's with airports charging money for wi-fi? In the Portland Oregon airport (PDX) wi-fi is completely free - you just turn on your machine and start browsing. Most of the other airports I've been to have their own proprietary "account" that you have to buy. You can buy a one time account or a monthly account - and each one is unique to that specific airport.... I mean, it'd be one thing to pay a monthly amount to have an account that worked at all airports - but to pay X per month at each airport I fly through? Whose drug-induced bright idea was this? wi-fi should be FREE at all international airports. Sorry - I piggybacked on your rant with one of my own......
Its all well and good saying that but i would have though that in this day and age its dirt cheap to provide internet access. I wanted internet access and i paied for it but surely if booze is free then internet should be free as well! And DreamTheEndless, go for it. im going to be boarding the plane soon so this thread can be all yours EDIT:: normally i would travel with the power adatop in the laptop bag, but for some reason today its in the check in luggage you live and learn i suppose
It's pretty obvious why that can't have power adapters. There is just to many types of adapters for all the different PC mfg.s and models. HP alone have about 5 or 6 versions. As for free access, i agree. Or at least it should be cheaper. Should be some sort of coin machine where you drop in a coin (or swipe a card) and get a label with a username and password. (i have seen these in use. not with coin slots , but you pay to someone behind a counter and they print a label for you). This should be easy enough to make, and cheap to install (in effect lowering the prices to the customer)
In the united states, a portion of every ticket goes to a pool of money whose purpose is to maintain airports. Now, currently, every single airline ticket counter, check-in kiosk, etc. need internet access - so the airport already has connectivity - so the only cost here is the wireless routers. That's a pretty insignificant one time cost, especially compared to the cost of all of the new moving sidewalks I saw being installed over the last couple of months. Hell - if they did this, they could actually save some money on it. Form a unified method for all the retail vendors in the airport to use the wifi network for credit card processing via the internet (the technology exists to do this securely, and many companies are switching to it,) instead of the dialup credit card machines they are using now, and then have the retailers pay 1/2 of what they were paying for the extra phone line to the airport instead. This monthly $15.00(USD) (or so) would certainly cover the costs of the hardware + maintaining it, and it would save the retailers money. In fact, if there was free internet everywhere - I would likely spend my 3 hour layover in the airport, instead of catching a cab to a restaurant that had free wifi - thus spending more money at the airport giving everyone in that food chain more money. This would be good business....
Isn't Toronto airport extremely expensive in all aspects?! Here for the "Aréoport de Montreal Eliot Trudeau"/"Eliot Trudeau"/"Montreal-Trudeau"/"Dorval" [sorry, it keeps changing names every 6 months] AirPort, the internet is free, if I remember correctly, and is 2$ for 30min, if you want to use the computers that are setup at the airport. (from Bell Canada) http://www.admtl.com/passenger_services.aspx?id=42
I think the reason they dont is because airports arent making money from flights anymore. They are solely living off the revenue from the shops and the cafes. The designers strategically placed shops and items im the right places depending on the mood a person will be in at that time. For instance, there are very few shops before the security, this is because people are stressed and want to be ready first. They hang clocks and information boards EVERYWHERE to make people feel like they know what is happening and that they are still on time. Then they have a huge place with all the shops. Everyone is happy they are on time, they have like an average time of an hour to shop, and they spend because they think its cheap. Now, if there were to give people free wifi, they would A. have the cost of the wifi, B. they wouldnt have people shop as much!. The whole idea of the airport is to make money from the sales. What i would expect they do in the near future, is if someone buys for say 100+ euro, they get a card with username and password on it to be able to go on the internet. This way they have sucked the money out of you and you can go on spend the rest of your time in one of the pubs drinking their 6 euro coffee.
Don't most airports have a Starbucks? Can't you get a sort of Starbucks card thing for internet access? I've never used it mind, but if I traveled often I'd think about it. (which only makes me kick myself for not signing up for a frequent flyer plan before I flew half-way round the world twice a year.)
Well im home (finally) in blighty, tired. not sure if im jet lagged yet but well soon see. Just a shame i cant be arsed to do anything now but sit at the computer and drink water. Yes, At the time of writing i needed a plug adaptor to convert my UK plug to a north american one. My IBMs power brick can handle 120volts no bother.
Frankfurt airport is pretty hostile when it comes to W-lan. Its a T-online network with some sort of code to excess the network. Been 2 hours at the airport without finding a place to get these cards. Not nice!
Ad. At the airport of Montreal, you see like 10 poster saying, "there is free wireless internet, provided by Bell Canada". So that if you live in Canada, and never had fast internet and want it, they hope you pick them.
Why shouldn't it be free? I don't want to have to buy an account at an airport that I'm only going to be at for a couple of hours and then maybe never be back to again. I don't want to mess with the hassle of buying an account at all. Portland International Airport (PDX) in Portland Oregon has free wifi - but then, Portland has really good free wifi coverage anyway.
Some terminals at Heathrow have free Wifi, i believe it was full Wifi as i dont have a lappy but it worked with my DS perfectly.
