Google gifting free airport WiFi for the holidays
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Nov 10th 2009 4:12AM
posted Nov 10th 2009 4:12AM
We really want to dislike Google. Such a massive company with unbelievable wealth and control over so much of our data must be evil, right? But man, free airport WiFi for the holidays? Come give us a hug Goog. The gift extends the Virgin America deal already announced to 47 airports across the US until January 15th -- an arrangement expected to cover about 35% of all US travelers. Oh, and it starts now. Hey, at least we can still hate those money grubbing airport WiFi service providers. Hit the read link to find out if the airports in your holiday plans are covered. 
A lot of international airports in the rest of the world already have free WiFi.
Halifax has free wifi, Montreal does not.
i will forever think that charging for wifi internet at cafe's, airports or anywhere else is ghetto! down with that junk ass shit!
Yeah, I though free WiFi at the airports was the standard...
Damn you ORD "O Hare Airport, Chicago" GIVE US FREE WIFI DAMN IT!
None of the ones I went through on my way to Iowa from Florida did. (That's three, Florida, Texas, and Omaha)
This is the land of the free, the home of the brave... free to work for everything you can imagine... there is nothing free in the civilization that thinks free leads to indigence. Most of the people I know think the same, so the brainwashing is working.
Hell, why bother talking about free... that to might lead to laziness.
THe fallacy continues... I will not pay for wifi at the airport. I'll sit there lazily gazing at the ladies. ;)
Wow, Google is really generous to give free wifi at airports that already have free wifi. I don't know about the others, but Charlotte, Las Vegas and San Diego are free all the time.
My airport already has free wifi, and I have 3G now so I don't really care.
This would have been cool 3 years ago.
Go to hell, Boingo Wireless. I had to do something constructive like read a book instead of dicking around on the Internet for seven hours at O'Hare in August.
With a *few* exceptions, it seems to be medium-sized cities and smaller. Not too many airlines hubs for the top airlines either.
The big airports aren't there...where's O'hare and LAX? But it's still a pretty cool thing to do for consumers. Makes me want to use google checkout for the holidays.
yea, wheres JFK and SFO. I would have assumed they would be on the list
No DTW too! >:(
Wait what? I travel a lot with my work, not as much as when I worked for *ahem* but I've never been through an airport that didn't offer wifi. Then again I haven't always checked in said airports. Hrmm.
Not WiFi... FREE WiFi
Obviously I meant free wifi. Some only offer free for x minutes/hours though.
I feel few names are missing here .. dnt u think so ..
Best,
Daina
your comments remind me of those craigslist scammers.
What's wrong with the verb "give"?
Nothing at all. There is nothing wrong with "gifting" being used here either.
umm..i love google and all..but Pittsburgh airport has always had free WiFi... so what's new here Google?
Um... maybe the fact that the airports listed DON'T have free WIFI? Not sure why this is such a hard concept to comprehend.
@Zoey - Umm, like, yourself... and learn to read too.
Pittsburgh was listed and thus Saurabh's comment.
Charlotte is another airport that is listed and already has free WiFi
Clearly Google is evil because you already had free WIFI at your local airport.
Las Vegas already had free wifi. That doesn't make Google evil, but it sure does make me ask what the hell Google did at McCarren if they already had free wifi.
In soviet Russia, WiFi pays you!
I waited in Prague for 5 hours this past summer for a connecting flight and had to listen to music instead of surfing the internet because internet was not free :(
Hah. I got free wifi everywhere. And thats why Estonia is the best.
Airport, schools, gas stations, beaches, stores, etc... FREE WIFI
Oh. Forgot. All the long distance busses aswell. One of my favs.
All the airports on the list that I've been to have free wi-fi already (PIT, SMF, CLT). What exactly is Google helping out with, other than awareness?
Not true,
The last time I flew out of Seattle and tried to connect, it wasn't free. That was during summer though, it might have changed since.
Damm! Atlanta, one of the biggest and the one I will be at is not on the list. They normally charge and I guess they still will for the Holidays.
PHX Sky Harbor, AZ has free wifi, has for a while. So does Manchester, NH.
LGA and RDU are not on the list... my resentment continues unabated. ;)
yes! Milwaukee is on there!! Woo hoo! 12/30 I will be a happy camper for the hour that I'm at the airport.
I pretty sure this isn't just a simple gift... let's think about it:
Google revenue comes from internet advertisement
People buy lots of products during the holidays
People are cooped up in airports
People are given free wifi
People see advertisements for products they want to receive/give
People search for products they want to receive/give
People click on products and make purchases
Google makes lots and lots of money
Sounds like a business strategy guised as a "gift"
Google? It's a cookbook.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Serve_Man_(The_Twilight_Zone)
This kind of bogus in that many (most?) of these airports already have free wireless including MCO and JIA. Ones that I see that don't are BOS and BWI. PHL would have been nice for those unfortunate enough to land in that hell hole.
It's Google's internet, we just live in it.
Haven't checked the rest, but Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach International already have free WiFi paid for by the city...
OH MY GOODNESS DO I HATE HARTSFIELD-JACKSON AIRPORT (aka, Atlanta GA)! Not only is it the busiest AND most expensive airport to fly out of, it's so cheap that it won't do something like offer free WiFi. I'm paying an extra $100-$200 to fly out of this city and the LEAST they could do is give me free access to find out HOW late my flight is going to be (read: not IF my flight will be late). Talk about a bunch of Scrooges!
Ohhh snap, yet another nail in the iPass coffin
Nice graphic.
grrrrrr.... why no love for DFW?????
At least I don't have any plans to fly soon anyways...
Not LA not NYC, always something with such gifts eh.
In the cities that normally have free wi-fi the cost is paid by the city/airport authority. Google is stepping in and picking up the tab during this period, and offering their charity matching program in these places as well. So even if wi-fi is normally free your city just saved some money.
This is a good thing all around, and I'm amazed that some of you are trying to find a negative in it. If you don't want to use the service because you think Google is evil, don't use it. That will leave more bandwidth for the rest of us.
wtf, they have Kalamazoo AZO but not Detroit DTW? google confuses me
Great, another reason to travel and pollute the skies.
While someone said "A lot of other airports in the world have free internet", apparently "other airports" completely exclude Europe.
I get free WiFi at Narita and Haneda airports in Japan, however in London, Athens, Cairo, Sochi and Istanbul, I never had free internet. I ended up with a 30-pound charge in London from fifteen minutes worth of internet.
Thanks Google for the free wifi I am on now at the airport so I can check engadget real quick lol