I don't know about you, but I think that wi-fi costs are absurd. I have given up spending time working in most Starbucks because they have contracted with T-Mobile to provide wi-fi connectivity to customers, and T-mobile, in my honest and absolutely correct opinion, is a rip off. If you spend hours and hours in Starbucks, you might find purchasing wi-fi connectivity by the month (at a hefty $29.99) to be a good deal, but more often we drop into a Starbucks to have a coffee, check email and maybe surf the Web for an hour, and for this T-Mobile charges $6. Of course, depending on where you are, and if you're lucky, you can ride someone's hot spot for free, but I have found this to be rare.

The same goes with some airports. In Burbank, I tried to get online just to check email and they wanted to charge me $8 for the service. Come on! Provide a $2-3 quick connect fee and I'm up for it, but $8, forget it. Maybe if you can expense the cost this is for you, but us lowly freelancers don't have that kind of coin to throw around.

Here is a resource that folks who share my opinion might find very useful. It lists the airports around the country that provide free wi-fi access, some of which are terminal specific (like Jet Blue at JFK and Long Beach) and others that cover the entire airport. Portland is one airport that provides free wi-fi (good for them!). Still, hopeless romantic and dreamer that I am, I dream of the day when wi-fi access will be free most everywhere. Yes, it's a pipe dream, but a good one.

Filed under: Business