Hotspot Pricing Sucks, Says CEO

Europe is in danger of repeating many of the mistakes made by the U.S. public WLAN market, including overpricing, according to self-styled 802.11 evangelist James Kinsella, executive chairman of pan-European operator Interoute Telecommunications, which operates a roaming service (see Interoute Launches WLAN Roaming).
On Tuesday, Kinsella told the FT World Telecommunications Conference in London that, on average, an hour's access to a hotspot in Europe costs €9.9 ($12).
Now, while Kinsella didn't make this comparison, a quick trip to Ebay by Unstrung soon revealed what you can get for less than 12 bucks these days, providing an elegant demonstration of what a giant ripoff hourly access rates really are. Why, for a mere $9.99, you can get yourself an awesome pair of cast-iron buggy wagon steps, or an antique baby's potty! [Ed. note: Best be quick, punters.]
Anyhoo... The point, says Kinsella, is that the hotspot market in the U.S. has been hamstrung (as opposed to unstrung) by "prices that are too high and inconsistent, and [the fact that] there's no single way to access wireless LAN networks. There are too many different user experiences. Now it looks like Europe is making some of the same mistakes."
— Ray Le Maistre, International Editor, Boardwatch
On Tuesday, Kinsella told the FT World Telecommunications Conference in London that, on average, an hour's access to a hotspot in Europe costs €9.9 ($12).
Now, while Kinsella didn't make this comparison, a quick trip to Ebay by Unstrung soon revealed what you can get for less than 12 bucks these days, providing an elegant demonstration of what a giant ripoff hourly access rates really are. Why, for a mere $9.99, you can get yourself an awesome pair of cast-iron buggy wagon steps, or an antique baby's potty! [Ed. note: Best be quick, punters.]
Anyhoo... The point, says Kinsella, is that the hotspot market in the U.S. has been hamstrung (as opposed to unstrung) by "prices that are too high and inconsistent, and [the fact that] there's no single way to access wireless LAN networks. There are too many different user experiences. Now it looks like Europe is making some of the same mistakes."
— Ray Le Maistre, International Editor, Boardwatch
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
FEATURED VIDEO
UPCOMING LIVE EVENTS
April 6-4, 2023, Virtual Event
April 25-27, 2023, Virtual Event
May 10, 2023, Virtual Event
May 15-17, 2023, Austin, TX
May 23, 2023, Digital Symposium
June 6-8, 2023, Digital Symposium
June 21, 2023, Digital Symposium
December 6-7, 2023, New York City
UPCOMING WEBINARS
April 4, 2023
RAN Evolution Digital Symposium - Day 1
April 6, 2023
RAN Evolution Digital Symposium - Day 2
April 12, 2023
B2B 5G: Lessons learned from Huawei’s path to monetization
April 12, 2023
Harnessing the Power of Location Data
April 19, 2023
Finding the right path to Automation
April 20, 2023
SCTE® LiveLearning for Professionals Webinar™ Series: Getting A Fix on Fixed Wireless
April 20, 2023
13 Million DDoS Attacks – What You Need to Know
April 24, 2023
APAC Digital Symposium - Day One
April 26, 2023
Developing achievable SLAs for 5G Private Networks
April 26, 2023
APAC Digital Symposium - Day Two
Webinar Archive
PARTNER PERSPECTIVES - content from our sponsors
Embrace F5.5G and stride to Green 10Gbps
By Kerry Doyle
How Carriers can Boost B2B Services Growth
By Kerry Doyle
WBBA Director General: Creating a Roadmap for Broadband Advocacy
By Pedro Pereira
All Partner Perspectives