Thursday, July 19, 2007

Free Wi-Fi in Paris


If you come to Paris with a laptop or a Wi-Fi enabled PDA you might want to try to check your mail (and/or PDP!) from one of the new 400 free hot spots that the Paris town hall promised to install for the summer. Apparently they're having problems though... The installation is delayed and so far only 105 hot spots have been launched. On top of that, the carrier Orange announced they would sue them for unfair competition (Orange sells a 3 hour Wi-Fi access for 10 euros, so you can understand why...). Fortunately there are plenty of other free hot spots in Paris, including in almost all McDonald's!
Discuss Paris Wi-Fi hot spots and much more in the PDP forum.

16 comments:

  1. Unfair competition?!! I'd like to have some of that unfair competition around here, too! I'll take free cable, free phone service, free electricity or free wi-fi anytime!! Good tip, Eric, thanks for letting us know.

    Oh, and by the way, careful with your laptops in Paris, guys. That is one city you can NEVER just leave the laptop on the table of a coffee or a public establishment, go the bathroom, and expect to see it when you get back. People do that here in California and it always make me nervous. Don't try it in Paris, though, you'll be sorry.

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  2. A friend and I are currently planning a trip to Paris (in '08 or '09), and the news you've brought us over the past week or so regarding the Velib and free hot spots has thrilled us to bits! In fact, although I have always flirted with the idea of taking my shiny new laptop overseas and creating a whiz-bang travel blog that I could post to on a daily basis, I have also been concerned that it might end up being a horribly difficult and expensive exercise. Well, it now seems that it might actually be a delightfully simple and incredibly cheap (if not free!) adventure in transnational travelogueing - thanks, of course, to the generosity, hospitality and forward thinking of les Français!

    Merci beaucoup!!!

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  3. mdrrr Tomate Farcie, c'est absolument vrai ça. Ca m'a sidéré d'ailleurs la première fois que j'ai vu ça. Le mobile a l'air comme ça, très tentant s'il avait été à Paris ou sa banlieue. Le dernier en date, c'était un couple, portable et mobile dernier cri sur la table, il est sorti en laissant tout en plan, est revenu 5 minutes plus tard. Absolument-normal-attitude ^_^

    Ah les retards commencent ^_^ et ce n'est que le début ;)
    Vive la concurrence, suis encore d'accord avec toi Tomate Farcie ^_^

    Dites, ne serait-ce pas Beaubourg ?

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  4. Internet should eb made available like water supply... there are many oraganizations lobbing against the 'free' internet providers as their stakes are shakened...not long! the day when entire earth will be connected and like anyone can talk freely to anybody in person, the net will offer the simillar provision, but fro free...

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  5. Agree with everyone - if something can be done for free then competition doesn't enter into it. Orange could stop providing their service, that would solve their problems

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  6. Well it's not that simple: Orange is a private company, they have to make profit in order to pay their staff.

    The Paris City Hall is funded by taxes, if they have a budget balance problem they just raise more taxes.

    So, although I am in favor of free Wi-Fi of course, I can understand Orange's point of view.

    After all they paid for the installation of their hotspots with their money not the one of tax payers.

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  7. Wonderful, i think? Unfair competition? Not at all, what a silly notion. Good for them let's hope they get the other 295 hot spots up and running soon!

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  8. What the world needs is more unfair competition. Perhaps some of the companies complaining about it would be forced to reevaluate their prices, practices, etc. Not that I don't understand Orange's point of view, I just think a little more of this type of unfair competition could be good for consumers.

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  9. My city (Portland, OR) has free wifi. I am so excited because it has finally expanded to my neighborhood. All I need to do now is buy a small receiver (since I will want to access it in my apartment rather than outside) and I will be good to go. If it isn't too slow, I will be able to get rid of my expensive internet.

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  10. Richard: you're absolutely right, of course, but $15 for 3 hours of internet is price gouging! You know, I paid more than $3,500 for my first computer years and years ago, and by today's standards it's a piece of !%@... goes to show you that investing in technology can be a dangerous proposition, too.

    Rajesh: I disagree. My belief is that as more and more people gain internet access, many more spaces on the Internet will cease to be "free" and all these VoIP phone services, etc., will start charging you. I hope I'm wrong, but hey, if you remember the way the Internet was 10 y ago and the way it is now (with all these commercial sites all over), I don't know, looks like we're heading that way.

    (Thalie à Berkeley, yes, it's Beaubourg)

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  11. The City of Minneapolis is trying to get wi fi throughout the city for a very inexpensive cost. So far, it hasn't worked very well, and not many people have subscribed. One can wonder if the nitwits we tend to elect have been bamboozled again by yet another vendor.

    All that aside, it is an interesting debate. Should internet access be free? Should phone service be free? Electricity? It gets paid for somehow, whether by direct private payments or by tax money. Nothing if free. It will be worth watching how it works in Paris and other large cities.

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  12. correction: Nothing is free.

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  13. Go to Paris for free WIFE in hotspot. 3 hours for WIFE only 10 euros? That cheap. Mine cost for free! except her ring, her car, house. Okay, still 3 hour WIFE for 10 euros is cheap. No problem.

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  14. Well, well, well, I tend to agree with you on this Jeff. Nothing is free. In the present case Paris free Wi-Fi will be paid by us, tax payers.

    And that would take us to a much larger political debate: must the authorities (Government, Mayor...) intervene when the competition does not play its role? And if yes to what extent.

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  15. It makes me laugh because Orange tried to get the business with Paris Town Hall in this case of free hot spots. They didn't get it and now they're horrified with the idea. Funny...

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  16. I love the writing on the pavement.

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