Today, you can find free wifi almost everywhere you go – cafes, restaurants, pubs, bars, hotels – anywhere you’re likely to linger! But you might be surprised by Purple WiFi’s top 5 favourite unusual places to find free wifi.
1) London Cabs
In December last year EyeTease, a government backed technology business announced it would be providing free wifi in black cabs, in exchange for watching a 15 second advert every 15 minutes. The scheme is heavily focused on tourist, wanting to avoid expensive roaming charges when going online with 3G or 4G connections.
2) Cemeteries
At the Oak Grove Cemetery in Kentucky in America a hotspot has been installed to aid visitors with their genealogy research. The cemetery houses a fair few famous people and the access to WiFi enables visitors to find and research the high-profile people who are no longer with us.
Recently a Dorset funeral director began to offer QR codes on graves, to allow people to find out more about the people buried under their headstones – so perhaps this is the future?
3) Mount Everest
Anyone climbing Everest is likely to be expecting to make a few sacrifices, but it seems that access to WiFi won’t be one of them. Climbers can now find WiFi hotspots all along the trek, up to a height of 17,000 feet which is the last meeting point before reaching the top. It’s a great picture opportunity for a Facebook status update!
4) Space
Over 500 passengers have placed a $20,000 deposit for a trip to space with Virgin Galactic. They can expect to experience “pure silence, weightlessness and elation.” They can also expect “An instant Internet connection via WiFi”. Now that really is an unbeatable Foursquare check in!
5) The North Pole
In 2005, two Moscow-based Intel employees set up a WiFi hotspot near the North Pole. It was the first wireless connection in the Arctic region and was installed at the Barneo ice camp, which is only about 80 kilometres from the North Pole. Pretty cool!