Geeky Traveller

Would you pay for Wi-Fi with spare change?

by Sherry on June 14th, 2008

I saw an interesting post over at The Gadget Blog that brings about a question. They mentioned a different concept for getting Wi-Fi while you’re out and about. It’s the Handlink Wi-Fi Kiosk and like those rides that your kids beg you to pay for in the mall, it’s coin-operated, running off your spare change.

There are more and more free hotspots popping up but there are also a lot of times when all the networks around you are secure. If you’re out of town and just want to send a quick e-mail back to the office to let your boss know how the client meeting went, you’re not going to want to pay a fortune to go into a coffee shop (have you seen the price of coffee and pastries? It’s almost as high as gas) just for the luxury of using their “free” Wi-Fi.

These kiosks work by allowing you to deposit some change, and in return you receive an access code ticket. Depending on how much you’ve paid, you’ll have X amount of time to get on the network and do what you need to do. Just like a parking meter on the street, the time will run down and if you wish to stay longer, you’ll be required to add more coins.

What do you think? It sounds like an interesting idea and as The Gadget Blog pointed out, it’s nice that it’s accessible to people who don’t have (or don’t wish to use) a credit card. But do you think it will attract enough attention to bother or will these kiosks fizzle before they get started? I think it could be very hander for travelers who don’t need to purchase large blocks of Internet time, but I’m not sure if they’ll catch on.

Would you use a coin operated Wi-Fi kiosk?

Image: Morguefile

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