Wi-Fi users in Europe are paying much higher rates than
those in the US, according to price-comparison website W-Fi
Rates.
The website claimed Europeans also pay more for hardware, with
IBM Centrino laptops costing at least half more than in the US.
Surprisingly, UK users can find themselves worse off than people
in the rest of Europe.
The average hourly rate to use Wi-Fi at a hotspot in the US is
£2, while in the UK it is £4.41. US users can surf for a whole day
for £4.14, while the average daily rate in the UK is £10.78.
Wi-Fi is cheaper in Britain if paid by the hour, compared with
other major European countries except Germany. The French have the
highest average daily Wi-Fi charge of £17.45.
Wi-Fi kit costs more in the UK. The IBM X40 Thinkpad starts at
£806 in the US, but the cheapest model available here will cost
around £1,400.
The UK's entry level is higher than the US, since the ultra-low
voltage 1GHz model will not be sold here, and the cheapest model
will have a 40GByte drive rather than the 20GByte in US.
"The average spec in Europe is higher than in the US," said
Adrian Horne, EMEA ThinkVantage technology specialist for IBM's
personal computing division. "We are running fewer models here but
that is based on customer data. We tend to hoard data more in
Europe."
Peter Judge writes for Techworld.com