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News and information for free public access Wi-Fi location owners and users

We call a hotspot that offers free Wi-Fi internet access a Wi-Fi-FreeSpot.

Click here for the Wi-Fi-FreeSpot Directory.

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Want to learn how to build a FreeSpot? Go to WiFiFreenet.

 
Vacation Rental Properties with Free Wi-Fi

I recently read that 50% of people on vacation bring at least one laptop with them. The Wi-Fi-FreeSpot Directory lists many Hotels, Motels, Inns, Resorts and B&Bs with Free Wi-Fi and now the Directory has a new page that lists vacation rental properties - condos, villas, cottages, homes, etc. - that provide wireless high speed internet access.

Check out http://www.wififreespot.com/vacrent.html

With the addition of this page and other recent new location listings sent in by e-mailers the Directory has passed the 4000 individual listings for the USA mark. When you add in the links to Hotel chain sites and others like Panera Bread, Atlanta Bread, Krystal Restaurants and Apple Retail Stores there are hundreds more. Listings in Europe and other regions of the World add even more.

posted by Jim at 12:43 PM

 
Free Wi-Fi from SBC, for awhile.

If you're a SBC DSL customer you can use SBC's FreedomLink Wi-Fi hotspots for free until April 2005. After that it goes to $1.99 a month.

Many UPS Stores are FreedomLink Wi-Fi Hotspots, as well as select Barnes & Noble Bookstores.

Using a UPS Store for Wi-Fi access would not be the first choice for a lot of people (maybe they should start serving coffee) but if SBC adds more FreedomLink locations that are more conveniently located more people will gladly pay the $1.99 a month and SBC will add a lot of new DSL customers.



posted by Jim at 8:14 AM

 
New location pages added to the Wi-Fi-FreeSpot Directory

Travelers and vacationers looking for Free Wi-Fi high speed wireless internet access in Airports and in vacation rental properties will find these two new pages helpful.

Free Wi-Fi in Airports

Free Wi-Fi included at Vacation Rental Houses, Condos and Cottages, etc.





posted by Jim at 10:37 AM

 
Page Redirect Patent

If you haven't heard yet, a company called Acacia Technologies, a company that is in the business of purchasing and enforcing patents, bought a patent from LodgeNet that covers redirects.

You can read all about it at Wi-Fi Networking News - http://wifinetnews.com/archives/004184.html

Hotspot operators who use a redirect to send people to a login,payment or advertising page before allowing general internet activities would seem to be the ones that could be accused of patent infringement.

It has been assumed that their targets for royalty demands would be the larger hotspot network operators like Wayport and T-Mobile, but it appears they are contacting small owner operated hotspots as well, including at least two locations that are listed in the Wi-Fi-FreeSpot Directory. It seems that Acacia may be sending out their demands for royalty payments to locations that don't even use redirects. As a matter of fact, I don't really know how they could possibly know whether an owner operated hotspot or freespot is using a redirect unless they visited a location and discovered the use. The above mentioned locations listed in the Wi-Fi- FreeSpot Directory do not use a redirect, yet they received a demand for a royalty payment.

Some people are questioning the validity of the patent and are waiting for legal advice. I would imagine that Wi-Fi Networking News will post follow-ups when something is known. I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, so I can't offer legal advice but I can advise you to follow the story closely. I will post follow-ups here when I see them.

If you receive a material packet from Acacia regarding redirects and you don't use one it is probably best to send a simple reply saying you don't use a redirect and see what their reply is.







posted by Jim at 11:45 AM