"More than two years ago, Finland made Internet access a legal right of its citizens."
Finland made Internet access a legal right in 2009. The Internet providers have lowered the prices, increased the speed, and updated all the networks. You can find free WiFi everywhere in Helsinki.
The City of Helsinki provides free WiFi, too, to many hot spots. And Rovio (Angry Birds) sponsors a free WiFi for mobile devices that you can use anywhere in the streets in the city center.
"Left Germany on Thursday morning- arrived in Austria around 5, then on Saturday left for Slovakia, on Monday- through Czech republic ( had coffee in Prague) went to Germany again:)"
That was a pretty nice little trip. :) I love living in Europe for that reason, you can move through countries as if they were only one big country. Like crossing the baltic in 1.5 hour to have dinner in Estonia and come back to Finland. Or a one-day cruise to Sweden. Even flying to Copenhagen for lunch and coming back in the evening.
The prices of some airlines, allow to do this, too.
WiFi in Scandinavia and Norther Europe is great. You can find free WiFi everywhere, which is super nice.
I know what you mean. I had this feeling living in Russia. And I felt myself lucky,considering living relatively close to Moscow- just 14 hours by train. Then you can take a place and get anywhere in Europe in 3-4hours. For people who lives in Syberia it's much harder- it takes them 3-5 hours by plane only to get to any Russian border. Not mentioning poor guys from Far East- It takes 10 hours by plane ( 7-11 days by train) to get from Vladivostok to Moscow. So, I agree, Europe is much more comfortable at this point
Jason, Europe is pretty small , so it's simplier than it sounds.For example last week, we did 4 countries in 5 days-:)
Left Germany on Thursday morning- arrived in Austria around 5, then on Saturday left for Slovakia, on Monday- through Czech republic ( had coffee in Prague) went to Germany again:)
But I can tell you, strangely, but it is much easier to find free WiFi networks in Eastern European countries that are definitely poorer than Western European countries.
I agree Paul and the reality is that the Internet is so intertwined in our every day lives that it's more or less a necessity to have. Hopefully something can be done about making it a public service sooner than later but we all know how that goes.
Wow Mashka, you really hop around hehe. That's cool though and it's even cooler to know how many European countries are on board. It's quite sad that as innovative and cutting edge as America "tries" to be, we still fall short in many ways thanks to all the corporate mumbo jumbo that goes on here.
Prague, Czech Republic- you can stand in the middle of the street and get 4-6 free Wi Fi networks from nearby hotels or cafes
Vienna, Austria - there are places , where you can find free public WIfi network.
Paris- is ok, but it is a huge problem all over the France to get a free network.
I found a sign that there is an access to a free public Wifi network in the middle of Lido- a little town near Rome in Italy but some why couldn't use it and I can't say that Wifi is easily accessible there.
There are no public Wifi networks in Slovakia, but I found several free Wifi networks from the nearest restaurants
Germany- I don't know about Berlin, but everywhere where I have been during the last 6 months ( cities like Stuttgart, Hamburg, Erfurt...) it is really hard to find a free WiFi network.
Airports, Train Stations, Coffee Shops... Most of thr places, you have to pay.Well, there is a free wifi in Starbucks, but there are not so many of them in Germany.
In the little town where I live, there is only one coffee shop( at least, one that I know), where you can get a free Wifi
Playing fields don't get level easily. That's just my experience. So why we can expect the FCC Public super WIFI access should be a step in the right direction towards bridging the digital divide, I think there is still more ground to gain if we should realize internert access as apublic utility.
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