Are Most Americans Connected? Establishing Free Public Wi-Fi

* Get free WIFI for customers who want to use their computers in the shop

“More than three billion people worldwide now use the internet (Time), and 80 percent of them access if from their smartphones” (Smart Insights). A smartphone is a mobile phone that performs many of the functions of a computer, typically having a touchscreen interface, and much more. There is an abundant amount of smartphone brands out there in the world and while they all cost different prices, they all perform the same job. Each person uses their smartphone for various reasons, whether it’s for work or to make calls or texts. Smartphones have changed society in various ways, both good and bad. Although countless individuals think that smartphones have ruined American society, smartphones have actually benefited society because of more safety precautions, information on hand, and entertainment.

This scenario is an example of using an access point, which a lot of people currently use to be able to access the internet via WiFi,

The digital divide that is prominent in today’s society is sky rocketing daily, especially in Canada. Unfortunately, Internet will never be a free service and we never expect it to be; but, Coalition member ACORN Canada, a national organization of low- and moderate-income families, is calling on the CRTC to mandate that $10 per month high-speed internet packages be made available to families and individuals living below Statistics Canada's low-income measure (Goodyear, 2016). Some solutions consist of higher-earning Canadians paying a little extra on their own internet bills - about a dollar a month - to subsidize access for those who can't afford it. (Goodyear, 2016). I personally believe that this solution is risky because it would unfair if other Canadians have to pay

Greig and Peck made a major decision to not offer their customers access to free wifi in their café. This was a bold choice to make, especially when you consider that most corporate and locally owned coffee shops on average offer wi-fi to their customers. The logic behind this decision was to encourage genuine human interaction, and eliminate distractions from technology. Beyond the Bean’s hours of operations were planned to be 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., and the partners discussed that the average customer would stay for at least three hours before leaving. Taking this into consideration, Beyond the Bean may experience some difficulty contending with their competitors, and would potentially have more success offering their customers access to wi-fi. If wi-fi were to be available to customers, it could give customers the incentive to stay longer than three hours, and would

There are places all over the world that are without the luxury of the internet. People have been trying to give those without access to the internet to those without it. One person who has been trying to achieve that goal is Mark Zuckerberg. Him and his team have been building a drone that they call Aquila, which will grant people without access to the internet, access to it. Their goal is to “bring the internet to all 7 billion people on Earth, regardless of their income or where they live” (theverge.com).

than that, customers can use the free wireless hotspot or just visit with friends. The high

The usage and access to the Internet are very low in many areas due to some factors: ethnic, geographic, economic or societal. For instance, people who live in the rural area have limited access to the internet. Individuals who live in urban areas with high income and educated are adopting new technologies faster and are always connecting. Unfortunately, the distribution of resources among people and societies is already heavily unbalanced, and to access to information technology is even worst. The growing gap between the underprivileged and privileged citizens is a global concern that continues growing at an alarming rate around the world. According to William Kennard, the Chair of the FCC, "In a society where increasingly we are defined by access to information and what we earn is what we learn, if you don't have access to technology, you're going to be left in the digital dark ages” (Digital). Hence, the governments must subsidize internet access for low-income individuals and create community access centers with well-trained staff. Moreover, the private sector must provide equal service and network to rural areas and the creation of more computer clubs for underprivileged communities

Should municipal Wi-Fi continue to be pursued? If so, should this be left to the private sector, government sector, or both?

Burger Ranch’s restaurant has been shut down and this creates an opportunity for Burger Ranch to search for new ways in attracting customers, “most products exist in an ecosystem of complementary goods and services, each of which influences the others’ sales and prices” (Garr). For example, by Burger Ranch offering free Wi-Fi connectivity inside their restaurants, Burger Ranch has created a potential advantage over other nearby fast food restaurants. Offering Wi-Fi connectivity allows Burger Ranch to tap into the pool of consumers who own some type of technological device. Even if customers decided to enter the restaurant for the sole purpose of using free Wi-Fi, customers who linger inside the restaurant would

Not only do people come to coffee shops to enjoy drinks and snacks, but for the quiet work space to go along with it. Although Peet 's offers free, fast Wi-Fi for all its customers, it does not have a great work space for working. Coffee shops were one of the first businesses to offer Wi-Fi to customers,

in the specialized coffee industry, Starbucks cemented its hold on the market by hosting free wireless

People go on vacation all over the world weather it is to Jamaica or to Canada and they would want wifi for many different reasons. For example, they would want wifi to keep in touch with people back at home, or to share things on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Some places people stay at do not have good wifi or wifi at all and most people would want to stay at a place with free wifi. If they had to go to another state or city for work they would most likely want to stay somewhere where they have wifi. If the place they were staying at did not have wifi then they would most likely go out of business because lots of people want to stay somewhere with wifi. Even if they are just going to another city in the state for the weekend some people want to take pictures and share them on social media for others to see. If they go on vacation they would want to keep up with everyone else and what they are doing back at home. Many people would love to stay at a resort with free wifi. Cities should offer free wifi so everyone can enjoy their stay and enjoy the free wifi for vacations, work, school or even just for fun and to keep in touch with everyone else.

Although having free public Wi-Fi is nice and has its benefits, there is still multiple things that could happen when you log onto a public Wi-Fi source. Not only does having access to an excessive amount of public Wi-Fi lead to the user being highly distracted, but it also leads to the user being a victim of security fraud and having their personal information hacked. Free wifi connections can lead to identity theft. It is anticipated that over 9 million people a year have their identities stolen. The ramifications of this often takes years to fix and overcome the damage to all aspects of one’s life.

Wi-Fi usage has been on the upswing recently, thanks to the rise of smartphones, especially the iPhone. Whether it is airports or cafes, people are increasingly logging onto Wi-Fi networks.The case talks about free Wi-Fi in various areas of businesses like restaurants, airports etc to attract crowd and to increase their business. It talks about transition from Wi-Fi – for money to Wi-Fi as a lure. The various strategies implemented by these businesses to give away free public Wi-Fi. Various issues like pricing, security issues etc are discussed in detail in the analysis below. The case also talks about newer trends