Why is public WiFi in Europe so painful?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4680625

by pswenson • 14 years ago

5 4 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Why is WiFi in Europe so awful? Every public network wants you to sign up via a painful signup process (enter a user name/pw/address/age/email/etc). In the US it's usually as simple as accept a EULA. Are there laws concerning this in Europe? Is it all about liability?<p>I am curious as to why as I'm used to the mostly frictionless US way and find it much nicer.

venomsnake• 14 years ago

They made the owner of wi-fi networks liable for all actions. In Spain I think. Mostly for the benefit of the carriers. Because almost everywhere there were open wifi-s before the law. But you can get 1GB 3G traffic for the modest 20 euro .. .

ysleepy• 14 years ago

It is liability. In Germany for example they are currently debating of easing up on it, so free WiFi can be deployed in Berlin.

_delirium• 14 years ago

Depends strongly on the country. It's not too bad in some. At Baresso coffee shops in Denmark you just click through to the wifi with no signup/password. And Helsinki has free no-login wifi across the whole city center.

ivanbrezakbrkan• 14 years ago

As _delirium said, depends on the country. Sofia (BG) has wifi all over the place while my own hometown Zagreb (CRO) doesn't...

Why is public WiFi in Europe so painful?

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