Free WiFi

I recently returned from a summer vacation to Europe. We went to Austria and and England. I will be updating the blog with those adventures soon. But what I want to talk about now is, what happened to free WiFi? Not so long ago there were many retail, service and lodging businesses that offered free WiFi to their customers and any person that wanted to sit in the parking lot outside their store. What happened to that? Running a WiFi hotspot can't cost a business so much that they have to pass that cost onto the their customers, and the prices they charge are so high that it is obvious the purpose is not simply to deter the people sitting in the parking lot out front from "stealing" the service.
I used to be able to get free WiFi in any Airport. Then recently the last 2 years it has started to change. Now T-Mobile and many others have started to provided a pay service in many airports and Starbucks. I also remember within the last year that I have had Free WiFi in hotels. The hotels that I have stayed in recently want to charge anywhere from $9-30 a day. I pay less than $30 a month to have Internet in my house. And if I divide the cost of a wireless router over it's lifetime it is a negligible added expense. The worst part about this expense is the service being provided for this exorbitant cost is ridiculously slow. I would hope that if I am going to pay even 9 dollars a day to have Internet in my hotel room than it better be very fast service. No waiting around for anything, the service I encountered was more like going back to the days of Dial-up.
Now I also rarely am on business travel so no one is going to pick up this cost for me. I will admit I have an Internet addiction but I use it to keep in touch with people, mostly family, when I am on the road I would love to be able to send the quick e-mail, up load a few pictures or add to my blog. I am not a workaholic. When I am on vacation (which is the main reason I would ever be in a hotel or in an airport) I am on vacation the internet is going to be used purely as a source or entertainment and because I find enjoyment in sharing and keeping in touch with my family, I certainly wouldn't be typing away furiously to finish the next project when I could be out enjoying the world.
Obviously someone needs to pay for all of the infrastructure that is out there and allows the Internet to operate. But with the ubiquity of wireless devices and users out there the cost should be spread pretty thin by now and if I am in a hotel room 1 or 2 dollars extra for the convenience would be a reasonable additional expense for my enjoyment. $9 or more is a source or immense frustration then it is a choice internet or lunch, maybe $30 that is a nice dinner.
Last word if I am already paying for a service, coffee, bagel, flight, hotel room etc. Internet should be included Not additional! Free the internet!

Enough of that.

YES I was in Austria and England. Since I was away for 16 days total, school starts next week and while I was away I had very poor Internet options, I will plan to post one blog per day every day until I have finished sharing this summers European Adventure!