My dad always had some verbal comment whenever someone offered up something 'free'. He usually noted that they must have been making an awful lot of profit to bring up some free incentive.
I noticed in the German news this morning....a 'free' deal...by the EU.
The EU wants to offer free Wi-Fi across Europe....in 8,000 locations.
Would that mean everyone in the EU had free Wi-Fi then? No. Why 8,000? Well, it's a nice round number. Other than that....there's no real reason to explain the 8,000 number.
The EU says they can make this happen in two years. I pondered upon this. In urbanized areas and decent-sized towns....yeah, it's possible. The folks way out in the middle of nowhere in France and Italy? No....they won't get the free Wi-Fi situation.
The problem that you generally see with this is that you are basically bidding on some cash vouchers via the EU....where you, some small company, will perform the action of putting up Wi-Fi in some village, with a promise to run/maintain this for three years. You should note....the free deal only appears for three years, and you have to wonder if the EU will come back and pay for the 2nd three years or what might happen then.
The odds of manipulation in this bidding process? It's best not to bring this up.
The one thing an American notices as he travels around Europe....is that there are very few free Wi-Fi places. In my village, there's very weak area of free Wi-Fi around the grocery store. Other than that...it's not existent. DSL-speed in the homes? Well....that's the funny thing. I think 99-percent of the village (4,000 residents) have DSL hooked up and running, with a weak Wi-Fi around their house.
In Wiesbaden with free Wi-Fi? I can probably find twenty-five pubs and restaurants with the free service, but a very weak and marginalized area. Something is better than nothing.
As for the free nature of the 'gift' from the EU? They figure this will around 120 million Euro. My guess is that it'll inflate to 250 million Euro very easily.
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