It is interesting that we take internet access for granted. I’m currently on vacation in Florida and wanted some online time. To gain access in the location where we are (man made island in Stuart Florida). The cost for a day is 8.00 and the cost for the week is 14.00. Since we are here for a while I got the Week.
The cost does not bother me. I’ve already justified the price for some work I quickly did. However, I realized how much I use the internet. Checking mail, making calls (skype), doing business, getting help (the fridge here was not working).
I take it for granted I can be online whenever I want. I did have my iphone and could use that. But I have some code I needed to check into source control and could not do that via the iphone. Since I just updated I have not jailbroken my phone again, so the tether is not working.
I looked up what it costs for wi-fi at starbucks and realized it was 3.99 for 2 hours. Wow, I don’t think I have ever paid for wi-fi. Hotels, coffee shops, and even my clients offer it for free.
So, tonight when you hop online to look at the scores of the game, or check local news, remember those who have to pay hourly for their internet access.