Throughout our travels during our holiday I have noticed that other countries tend to have far more generous coverage when it comes to Wi-Fi access. Many hotel lobbies and rooms will include some form of access (be it paid or free) and even trains and buses here in Europe have complimentary Wi-Fi. Airports are also fairly generous with free Wi-Fi in lounges and even in public areas.
Back in Australia, I remember reading about the potential for Wi-Fi to be rolled out on public transport but nothing ever materialised. Back in the early noughties, the major carriers at the time were deploying Wi-Fi hotspots quite rapidly but the quotas and costs were hardly enticing. As 3G mobile broadband rose in popularity over the years, Wi-Fi seems to have taken a back seat.
Over time, I am sure that we will see mobile quotas increase to a level that is comfortable for most users. Speeds will increase while latency continues to decrease and provide service that approaches somethings similar to a fixed broadband connection. That is still some time off but in the mean time, short range wireless networking would make a lot of sense in my mind.
The added benefit of having widespread free Wi-Fi in Australia is that it could also help to boost tourism. I am sure that there are heaps of people that live connected lives through their mobile devices who then go cold turkey because of the massive data roaming costs. If I want to use mobile data overseas, it costs $20.48 per megabyte (not a gigabyte but one solitary megabyte).
Allowing people to keep in touch whilst on the move via social networking services as well as enabling them to research potential destinations whilst away from their hotel would be a huge bonus. It might also help those on the way to and from the office or university to remain productive or just to help kill some time for those longer journeys.
I think that this is a good idea and should be considered as part of what the NBN is rolling out.
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