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Study: There's a Wi-Fi Hotspot For Every 150 People In the World - Slashdot

Published by James D. Tyler on November 4th, 2014

Study: There's a Wi-Fi Hotspot For Every 150 People In the World

Posted by Soulskill on Monday November 03, 2014 @08:11PM

from the hope-you-like-sharing dept.
mpicpp sends a BBC report on a study that found there are, on average, 150 people per Wi-Fi hotspot, worldwide. In the U.K. alone, there is one hotspot for every 11 people. The study estimates there will be roughly 47.7 million hotspots worldwide by the end of the year. France has the most, followed by the U.S., the U.K., and China. Future growth is expected to be high: "Over the next four years, global hotspot numbers will grow to more than 340 million, the equivalent of one Wi-Fi hotspot for every 20 people on earth, the research finds. But this growth will not be evenly distributed. While in North America there will be one hotspot for every four people by 2018, in Africa it will be one for every 408. While Europe currently has the most dense wi-fi coverage, Asia will overtake it by 2018, according to the report."
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    • Re:

      Hotspots just enable hackers to do stuff that previously only NSA and friends could and did. We should design the internet in a way that its irrelevant for security from where you are using it, and who sits in the middle.

    • Re:

      Without a definition of "hotspot" the story is useless. Is every unsecured home WiFi router counted? Secured store WiFi that you get a code for when you buy something? Unencrypted walled-garden sites? Pay-only unencrypted WiFi?



      This seems more like a count of APs, not hotspots. They don't mention what you can do with them. If you have to pay to get to the Internet (other than cafes that you have to buy a coffee), then it isn't a "hotspot" it's paid wireless internet.
  • ›
    What's the point of a "flag as inappropriate" icon? Isn't that what moderation is supposed to be for?

    • Re:

      Maybe if enough people flag spam posts they disappear? If that includes FRIST PENIS posts, all the better.

      But really, I'd guess it's about avoiding legal responsibility for user content.

    • Re:

      How do I report abuse?

      Below and to the right of each comment is a small "Anti" symbol; click on this, and (optionally) explain why you consider the comment abusive. (Slashdot discussions are and should be robust; only cry "Abuse!" for comments that are utterly without redeeming value -- spam, racist ranting, etc. For everything else, use the other moderation options.) Reported comments will be reviewed and moderated by the editors, if appropriate.

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    • Re:

      Free as in freedom or free as in a "bottomless" cup of coffee? Sit down, spend more, but don't overstay your welcome?

      • Re:

        frei is generally of the unrestrained variety

        free stuff is usually said to be kostenlos (without cost).

  • Still low compared to college dorm/cheap apartment ratio of about 10 years ago - those folks are spreading out, and spreading expectations.

    We sometimes see ideas spreading 'virally', but really, largely shared ideas are often established generationally - the 'viral' ideas are usually just those ideas exposing and exploiting those slowly growing generational ideas that have been growing as people's desires and needs shift.

    Wifi is an expression of this expanding set of generations desire to be ever connected

  • by PvtVoid (1252388) on Monday November 03, 2014 @09:09PM (#48306591)

    Having traveled a lot in both rich and poor countries, I have come up with a general rule of thumb: the richer the country, the worse the Wifi access. It's always the poorest places that have completely open wifi absolutely everywhere.

  • Fuck your "homespot", get off my lawn. Doesn't "not given the option to opt out before receiving it" sound like digital rape? There will be no vendor supplied WiFi in my house, no sir.

    Per TFA:

    "US provider Comcast caused controversy when it introduced its public home wi-fi service in the summer because customers were not given the option to opt out before receiving it.

    Such "homespot" public wi-fi will see explosive growth rising to more than 325 million in 2018 and taking wi-fi "from the cities to the suburb

  • by manu0601 (2221348) on Monday November 03, 2014 @09:26PM (#48306679)
    All major France ISP provide a set-top box for their customers that does DSL modem-router, WiFi access point, TV and telephone. The WiFi access point also provides a hotspot service for the neighborhoods. I guess it explains the high numbers.

    • Re:

      Exactly, also you have no control over that hotspot, the company uses your payed line to make more money, as they sell this to others as a service and on top of everything, you have no control to your router whatsoever, you have to login to the company's website and see what limited options they provide you.

      Also, in France I had terrible problems with latencies and ofc with Youtube

  • Because it is rural. :(

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James D. Posted on November 4th, 2014

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