[DDN] Parisian Wi-Fi Lessons

[Andy Carvin]

Ever since arriving in Paris yesterday, I've been baffled by the state 
of wi-fi here. When I checked into my hotel, I found a little wi-fi sign 
on the counter, which was good news, since I selected the hotel 
partially because Hotels.com said the place had wireless Internet 
access. But then I turned on my computer and opened my Web browser, only 
to discover that the hotel had the nerve of charging 25 euros a day for 
the privilege. That's more than 30 bucks to us currency-challenged 
Americans, which is sheer lunacy.

So I briefly sunk into a cyber funk and wondered if I'd be able to 
tolerate being offline. Of course, the answer was no, so I started to 
download emails from my cell phone. Granted, I bought the phone for that 
very purpose, but the download charges while traveling international can 
be a couple of cents a byte, and that can add up when you get as much 
email as I do.

This afternoon, though, while I was strolling down Boulevard St-Germain 
on the way back to my hotel, I noticed a little sign in the window of 
the local MacDonalds. "WI-FI ICI," it said. And below that, in somewhat 
smaller print, "gratis." Yep, Ronald McDonald has gotten into the 
municipal wi-fi business -- at least for a few days. It turns out the 
wi-fi is part of a promotion announcing wi-fi at French McDonalds, but 
it's free only for a short time. Fortunately, I'm only here for a short 
time as well, so that suits me just fine. So in between touring the 
sites and soaking up the Parisian joie de vivre, I'll be soaking up the 
bandwidth at the local Mickey Dee's..... -andy
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Andy Carvin
Program Director
EDC Center for Media & Community
acarvin @ edc . org
http://www.digitaldivide.net
http://www.tsunami-info.org
Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com
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