With the idea of truly going ‘wireless’ finally making the mainstream, I’m happy to see that the infrastructure needed to support this wave of technology is really becoming incorporated into our every day lives.
I’m writing this while at international arrivals in the Vancouver International Airport while waiting for my mom and sister to come back from their 3.5 week vacation in the Philippines. At first I thought that the hotspot was isolated just to the Starbucks upstairs, but when I checked the name of the signal, it simply said “YVR_PUBLIC”. I booked it downstairs and opened up my Macbook to see that the signal was actually stronger down here.
I just got back from a 2 week vacation of my own in the Philippines and Japan. I had never been to Japan before, at least outside of the confines of Narita International Airport. I expected Japan to be one GIANT (and free) hotspot. Perhaps my comprehension of the Japanese language just isn’t up to snuff, but I didn’t find that to be the case. In fact, the internet connection in the airport charged users ¥750 for a day. neither were there any coffee shops or anything of the sort where people would go with their laptops to surf the net while sipping their coffee (or tea, I suppose). What they do have though are crazy cell phones that I can only assume their surf the net with. I found that almost everyone would open up their cell phones and play with them while their rode the trains to and from and destinations.
Here in Vancouver we have a lot more hotspots, at least as far as I can tell. Many coffee shops offer complimentary wireless internet with one chain, Waves, making it a selling point in their advertising. Aberdeen Centre in Richmond is the first mall in the Lower Mainland (and probably in BC) to offer free wireless. Also, here at the airport, it’s free and presumably everywhere (I can only confirm it works in the International Terminal here). The signal is also nice and strong. In a more underhanded way, one can even troll neighbourhood streets and find an unprotected wireless signal. I believe there are devices that fit on a keychain which will pick up on these signals.
So yeah, I’m loving Vancouver’s wireless hotspots. It was particularly helpful today as I was able to purchase five Stone Temple Pilot tickets for Tyler, Bryan, and myself. I came just in the nick of time, so all I had to do was open up my computer and make a few clicks. Now all I need to do is wait for my family, quickly check am730traffic.com to find the best route home, and I’m golden. Absolutely beautiful!