should wi-fi be free?

Posted on April 29, 2014 Updated on April 29, 2014

Apologies in advance for this wi-fi rant that we are about to unleash. We don’t like complaining or whinging but there was a moment of weakness when this was written and so we thought we best post it anyway 🙂

After only recently returning from a trip to Singapore and a trip to Melbourne, we are reminded of one noticeably different aspect between hotels overseas and hotels within Australia. We simply can’t help but compare….

Free wi-fi connectivity seems to be a rarity in hotels within Australia – to find one is like finding a gold mine. We experience these issues with connecting no matter where in Australia we are. But worse yet, the charges for wi-fi are astronomical if one is to pay. The recent price we saw was $40 AUD for a maximum 1GB download over 3 days – how utterly unreasonable.

And when there is complimentary wi-fi, there are all these restrictions such as half an hour access, available only in the lobby, up to 500MB download per day.

We think back to our hotel in Singapore, we not only got a smart phone with unlimited internet access but we also had complimentary in-room wi-fi. So maybe it was a recent experience that is making us feel a little precious about free wi-fi?

Nope, that’s not it, because we have travelled to developing countries where free wi-fi is much more accessible and readily available in hotels than it is in Australia.

Anyway, we just wish Australian hotels have the heart and offer free (or at least reasonably priced) wi-fi, help keep us connected with our loved ones and our blogging community without costing us an arm and leg.

Maybe you disagree and think wi-fi shouldn’t be free – would love to hear your thoughts.