USA Today: For years, one of the top San Francisco? Free. Orlando? Free. Seattle, St. Louis and San Jose? Free, free, free.
Washington's Dulles and National airports? As of April, 2011, free as well.
Free Wi-Fi sounds great. But during heavy usage times at some airports, service often slows down. And some free airport Wi-Fi has strings. Most often, it's in the form of advertising a user must view before getting online.
There remain some holdouts. Notable among airports that only offer paid Wi-Fi (outside of airline club lounges) are Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, LaGuardia Airport and JFK, except for JetBlue's Terminal 5, where complimentary Wi-Fi is offered as an amenity by the airline. There's a plan underway to provide free Wi-Fi at Los Angeles International Airport within a year.
At some airports that cannot yet swing free Wi-Fi financially or contractually, there is a new model: hybrid, or tiered, service. Complimentary Wi-Fi with limited time and, often, limited bandwidth is available, but for a fee travelers can also choose more secure, robust and unlimited service.
Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City offers travelers 20 minutes of complimentary Wi-Fi. In Houston, travelers get 45 minutes of complimentary Wi-Fi at both Hobby Airport and George Bush Intercontinental airports.
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport has had some form of paid Wi-Fi available since 2000, but in May it began offering travelers a complimentary 30-minute session. Once the free session expires, a customer must wait 24 hours for another, find one of the airport's free internet kiosks, or purchase premium access from the airport's Wi-Fi provider, Boingo Wireless, which has roaming agreements with a variety of partners.
Nashville International Airport is currently evaluating its Wi-Fi options. During the winter, the airport complemented paid airport-wide Wi-Fi with 20 minutes of sponsored Wi-Fi in the Meeter/Greeter areas and in the food court.
"Anecdotal studies say free Wi-Fi may have an overall negative effect on airport revenue," explains Boingo Wireless spokesman Christian Gunning. "If people are watching a movie on-line, they're not walking around the airport shopping or spending money in the food court."
"Consumers are familiar with these kinds of policies where the heaviest users pay higher fees," said Amy Cravens, senior analyst for In-Stat. "The tiered pricing model has its place in the hotspot market, particularly in airports where the amount of time spent on the network varies so greatly."
"[T]he explosion in the use of photos and videos — think Facebook, You Tube and devices like iPad — has caused the amount of data per session to go up 50% per year. So free is not free and it's getting more expensive every year."
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