We've been getting lots of mail on our tipline lately about our Airport WiFi Map. We read it all, and we appreciate it!
Your notes have given us even more places to add to our mashup, which is already stocked with dozens of airports worldwide that have free wireless. (We don't roll with airports that charge!)
To check out all of our previous airport WiFi coverage, click here.
The airport internet provider we love to hate, Boingo, is giving away WiFi this holiday weekend. You'll only get 24 hours of free access before you have to pay, but hey, free stuff!
You'll have to download a program called GoBoingo from the company's website to get online, but it's not much of a hassle. After your free session is over, you can use the same program to reconnect to any Boingo-managed hotspot for $8 a day.
Given how prevalent those are in bigger airports, this could certainly come in handy over the long holiday weekend.
You've heard, right? Starbucks will start giving away two-hour chunks of WiFi to people who use their 'bux card at least once a month. Given that we're more into alternative coffee shops, we're having a hard time getting excited about getting online this way.
Besides, it's not actually free: You have to buy stuff! Still, for a lot of people, this is probably a good deal. (Just make sure to read through the extensive rules and restrictions.)
But we did get excited about certain Starbucks airport locations. Would they give us a work-around for those obnoxious $10-a-day fees? According to the searches we did... No. All the airport locations we checked are WiFi-free. Weak!
Big-time WiFi contractor Boingo, which handles net access at heaps of airports around the world, is now offering iPhone and iPod Touch users 15 minutes of free access at 28 of its US, Canadian and UK airports. The promo is currently only for Apple users, but the company plans to expand the free 15 minutes to Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Windows Mobile users soon.
What's the catch? Not much of one: You'll just see a 15-second ad before you're free to surf. Boingo is ramping up its mobile offerings, and the promo gives the company a chance to do a little market research. In our view, it's win-win.
In the UK, you can jump online at London Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted as well as at Edinburgh Airport and a couple others. In North America, there are a couple dozen airports in on the promo, with BWI, HOU, IAH, JFK, LGA, ORD and YYZ among them.
Say it ain't so, PHX! The Phoenix airport, which we listed as one of the best in the US for WiFi, won't let you check out dirty websites while you're waiting for your flight. The airport filters web content in the terminals, a la Denver International.
Says The Rocky Mountain News, it's only one of a couple airports playing nanny for passengers:
A review of policies at two dozen of the nation's busiest airports found that DIA and Phoenix Sky Harbor are the only two that block content on their WiFi systems for travelers using their own laptops, according to [our] research.
As we told the author of the story, it's pretty ridiculous that the web is being censored while you can pick up nudie mags in the airport newsstand. (Though DIA should get some credit for making the WiFi free.) For more airports with free wireless, check out our handy map.
After adding tons of US airports to our WiFi Map, we've decided to take it international. And thanks to some of our ever-mobile tipsters, we can fill you in on a couple spots right away.
Naha Airport in Okinawa has free internet at all the ANA gates, and Kuala Lumpur International has WiFi throughout, including in its Low Cost Carrier Terminal. In Europe, a tipster reports that there's no trouble getting online at Shannon International.
This doesn't mean we're giving up on domestic airports, btw. Lately we've heard that Gerald R. Ford International in Grand Rapids has WiFi as does Bradley International outside Hartford, Connecticut.
Though Heathrow's T5 and Beijing's T3 are getting all the press, there's another world capital that's getting an airport update. Wellington has unveiled its new international terminal, called The Rock. It should be finished by the end of 2009.
The first stage of the project wrapped at the end of 2007, adding security and customs lanes, shopping and jet bridge improvements for international flights. The second half of the work will add more departure lounge seating, more bathrooms and a couple more international gates.
Of course airport officials hope the building's design will make it a destination:
The airport's South Coast location is represented by the inside aesthetics and outside shell of the building. Colored fragments of glass in the roof fissure let in a warm, natural light by day and backlighting at night creates a glow which will be seen from the air.
We shouldn't even need to mention it'll all be environmentally sound and heavy on green design elements. And, hey, it'll have free WiFi!
We love when airports offer free WiFi. And since there aren't that many big ones giving access away, we should probably be happy with whatever free sort of service we can get, right?
Um...not quite. Philadelphia International offers up some confusing "free WiFi" access. College students can get free WiFi whenever they're in the airport:
The program allows students to present college identification at any airport information counter to receive a coupon with a code that gives access to the Internet for up to 24 hours from their laptop.
Similarly, any weekend travelers--college-aged or not--can get free access in the airport on Saturdays and Sunday without having to enter an authorization code.
Naturally, the airport is reporting more internet connections---a 132 percent spike. But shrewdly, they are still charging business travelers during the week. WiFi goes for $8 per 24 hours or you sign-up for one of those $40-a-month accounts. Lame.