man, finding free wireless internet in london is a pain.
i mean, it’s true that i actually just thought of googling “free wireless london” and in so doing, i learned that there is a full square mile in islington with free wireless for all.

and that’s cool.

but given that i thought there was wireless included in my flat, and there KIND of is, but it’s very patchy, and the place down the street charges £1/hr., and i don’t have much cash at the moment, and i’m sometimes out and about in the city, and i was excited to learn of a library right across from the bus stop this morning but then i was annoyed to discover that, not only is there no wireless in this library, but you have to PAY to use the wired internet… in a library!!

the whole ordeal has been making me feel tired.

i want one of those little keychain clickers that tell you when you’re near a hotspot, the ones that i laughed at when i saw it in skymall a few years ago because it seemed so silly, but now they seem wise. except that to get one that actually tells you whether the network is open or not costs a lot, and then they are less pocket-friendly, and you know what? i still kind of resist on principle because i firmly believe that wifi should be free, and more than that, i have faith that it soon will be, so i would rather not put too much energy into developing workarounds for a world that is not going to last very long.

but still, it’s annoying now, and today i had a flicker of sympathy for starbucks because i thought, “well, at least they have the right idea in always HAVING wireless, and making it easy to use just one account at all their stores…” so i looked at the login screen for the 75th time, and decided that it is just way too expensive for the 75th time, and groaned and left.

why doesn’t some big chain just offer free wireless everywhere? or even free wireless with Purchase everywhere? isn’t there a market for that?!

but it’s all ok, because you know what?
there is free wireless at the apple store on regent street.

ahhhh….

and so apple, even though just a couple days ago i was cursing at itunes with david, and even though i don’t know why “enter” should mean “edit name” instead of “open”, i just wanted to tell you that sometimes you do get things right, and i am grateful.

so after i get a paycheck, i’ll come back and buy myself a christmas present.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 15th, 2006 at 9:55 am and is filed under ranting, things i do. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.