It’s rare that I use public Wi-Fi hotspots since for me, mobile Internet access via a cellular 3G network is usually a cheaper and more flexible alternative. But every now and then I just log on to them to see how much users are charged for connectivity. These days, however, more often than not, the Wi-Fi hotspots I log on to are not working as they should. Either I don’t get an IP address (in one instance Wireshark showed that the DHCP server returns failure messages because the IP address pool is exhausted), the portal page fails loading which probably means the backhaul link is broken or the speed is so abysmally slow (for whatever reason) that any meaningful use of the service is not possible. Yes, I am complaining! Or is it just something specific of the countries I travel to? Not that the reliability of 3G wireless networks is beyond complaint but I can still count the instances a network didn’t work on a single hand (and I travel to many countries in Europe).
2 thoughts on “Wi-fi Hotspots Are Spreading But Network Management Is Not Keeping Up”
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Like I read somewhere recently, wi-fi hot spots are the equivalent of phone booths for data. A remnant of the past. In my opinion they will soon disappear. Wi-fi is only good for the home and the office in my opinion. For everything else there is ‘3G broadband’ 😉
I have no problem with T-Home’s Call & Surf Comfort Plus. Access to 8500 hotspots throughout Germany is without a doubt a very good deal. I use both the N82/N93 and the FUJI U810 UMPC often and almost never have had a problem connecting.