How Close Are We to Free Nationwide WiFi?

Who doesn’t love free WiFi? It’s like the dessert at the end of your meal, the cherry on top of your sundae – always a sweet treat when you realize your favorite coffee shop or bookstore offers it. One of the hottest new trends lately is for corporations to sponsor free WiFi access for consumers, providing a nice service and touting their product at the same time.

Latest to join the bandwagon is Google – they recently announced that they would offer free WiFi at 47 different American airports over the holiday season (see if your hometown airport made the list!), making traveling a little easier for those faced with delays and standbys.In addition, eBay is providing WiFi on over 250 American Airlines flights over the Thanksgiving holiday.

And it’s not just corporations . . .  cities are jumping on board, as well. The city of Miami Beach enacted free citywide WiFi on October 30, 2009. Times Square in NYC also just announced that they would be providing the service,” to the more than 500,000 people who visit Times Square daily,” via a sponsorship from Yahoo.

So are the days far off when we will no longer have to pay for internet access at all, other than up-charges for faster speeds? With the world growing ever more mobile, and WiFi access popping up all over the place, it looks like we’re headed towards a worldwide WiFi trend. The FCC has been in talks about a federally endorsed, WIFI network for quite some time, although there hasn’t been much chatter about it recently.

Either way, we’re moving ever closer to a world in which we’re never unplugged, and are constantly connected to work, friends, family and even strangers. What does this mean? Your digital presence and reputation (and that of your company’s) will become increasingly crucial in an always interconnected world.

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