Comments on: [Essay] Public Wifi: United States and Japan

By: T.Kimura

T.Kimura — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 05:51:29 +0000

I do know that in the US, plans for municipal wifi have repeatedly been shot down by cable companies and other ISPs that make money from residential Internet service; but in Japan, either there has been nothing to spur that debate, or us regular folk don’t hear anything about it. A quick look online shows just two municipalities that offer free public wifi outside of public buildings, like government offices and public libraries; the example that most stands out is Hiroshima, which offers free wifi in the Peace Memorial Park and a 1km length of street that starts just outside the park.

Unlimited 3G data card plans with Docomo, the mobile offshoot of the former national telephone company, is 5,985 JPY (or 53 EUR); with Softbank, the company that was the catalyst for the recent pricing revolution in Japan (and the company I see the most foreigners signing up with), the service is 4,679 JPY (42 EUR). Both are a tad bit more expensive than the 380-yen-per-month public wifi provider I’m signed up with, which gives me access to wifi at McDonald’s, Doutor coffee chains, some train stations, airports, and inside that expensive express line that runs through central Tokyo to Narita airport. Of course, if I only do work at McDonald’s and there are enough McDonald’s around, I’d have no problem, but there are times when I really, really need to get online to update something or fix something or research something (yes, I know, even college students have time-sensitive issues) and I need to rely on less… cromulent methods, let’s say.

By: T.Kimura

T.Kimura — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 03:20:10 +0000

It never occurred to me that free museums is a norm in parts of the world outside Japan. You certainly do need money to have fun in Japan, though – especially the kind of fun where you can meet new people. It does seem that the advances Japan is famous for are definitely on the other side of a large chasm from the rest of Japanese culture – an overwhelming percentage of Japanese people suck at using computers, for example – and the parts of the advances that do mix with our lives are so thoroughly permeated our day-to-day business that we don’t realize how much of an advance it actually is, compared to other parts of the world – tap water or trains that are on time, for example.

By: Sharpedon

Sharpedon — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 08:46:23 +0000

In Athens,Greece you can find free wi-fi almost everywhere;public parks,coffe shops,even the entire main port of Piraeus has been covered wirelessly the last two to four years.
This applies to most of the other cities too.For instance the entire Trikala,one of our smaller cities,has been treated with free wi-fi by the municipality.Only some 5 star hotels request money for wi-fi access.But of course if you want wireless internet *everywhere*(and you are not one of the lucky ones living in Trikala),you have to use cellular,i.e. the USB 3G sticks you mention.These are not cheap,for unlimited access at a much slower speed they ask around 50€/¥5,595 per month!
WiMax is still at the testing stage,and no prices have been yet announced.

By: Jay

Jay — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 15:07:36 +0000

I thought that Japan was advanced but when I got here I was surprised to find no free wifi anywhere. No free museums. No free information. If you are poor in Japan you are just out of luck.

By: T.Kimura

T.Kimura — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 14:30:02 +0000

One thing I forgot to mention is that EVERYTHING in Japan is outsourced – building and campus security, all manner of projects, even administration of the ubiquitous public lockers that train stations here are so famous for – that the first step for any mom-and-pop shop that just decided to deploy public wifi ISN’T to rent a data pipe, sign up for Internet service, and buy a wireless AP – it’s to look up the cheapest and best service that manages all of that. Whichever service that private storeowner chooses is the service the store’s customers will have to sign up with to be able to use it – all others with subscriptions with other services be damned.

People use 3G data cards in the UK as well? What are the fees like? I do know that the iPhone is offered by multiple carriers there, which gives you guys a one-up on America AND Japan. What’s the scene like for tethering on the iPhone?

By: speculatrix

speculatrix — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 09:30:06 +0000

free wifi is everywhere in the USA now – it saves me a lot of money of phone roaming charges as I can use a voip service like voipfone.co.uk or sipgate.co.uk – so much so that if I am in a restaurant which doesn’t have wifi, I express surprise to the staff and suggest they really need to get it!

here in the UK it’s still treated as a cash cow, hotels are the worst, which is why I think that so many people have data contracts with USB dongles! Considering that it costs barely £30 (< US$50) to rent a phone line and a ADSL service to provide, they're trying to screw the customer over with a £1/hour usage!

Paul