I’m currently in transit between Honolulu and San Antonio, and for a few hours I’m hanging out in the Denver Airport, which is amazingly boring. The one thing Denver does right is WiFi. I don’t fly too much, but I’ve never been to an airport that offered free WiFi. LAX makes you purchase a T-Mobile hotspot pass, and I believe O’hare does as well. Getting free WiFi in the lovely San Antonio International airport sucks just as bad.

Honestly, we’re well into the internet revolution, and we’re really starting to need to have internet access at all times. Yes, we have our new 3G iPhones and our EVDO cards, but WiFi is still the best. It really won’t be that long from now where you can walk through any metropolitan city and catch wireless signals without having to use any cell towers. Google’s already doing this in San Francisco, but this really needs to pick up speed because the demand is tremendously high.

For instance, just take airports as your example. How many people pass through an airport in one day? How many of those people are on business? And then, how many of those want to answer emails and communicate with their colleagues. Plus, you have to consider all the tourist traffic that wouldn’t mind hopping online for a few seconds to check their blogs, or see the scores for their favorite sports teams.

There is a HUGE demand, and the answer is not to install hotspots and charge for it. That alienates users, pisses people off, and restricts people from actually using the internet. I’m only at the airport for a few hours. I’m not going to spend 10 bucks for a day pass. I’ll just not get online. Instead of charging a fee to get online, airports and all wireless providers should act how Denver has.

When I logged in, I see a screen informing me that I can get free WiFi. I just need to watch a quick commercial, and then browse all webpages with a header that offers quick links to flights and such (probably able to disable this somehow with GreaseMonkey).

I see this as the wave of the future. I honestly don’t mind this type of advertising. It’s well worth the little time I have to look at the ad in order to get free wireless internet. Not only do users like this, hotspot creators should love this too. In an oversaturated web marketplace, advertising is becoming less and less effective. I don’t think I have ever clicked on a Google AdSense ad, and I rarely click on any kind of banner ad, but here is a chance to show a full 30 second video ad to a user, who most likely will watch it because they have nothing else to do. You’re going to get serious eyeballs with these kind of ads.

All in all, this a win-win for both the companies providing the WiFi and for the users accessing it. We get free access to our ever-more digital lifestyle, and companies can make real money off of advertising.

I think a cost breakdown between 24-hour passes bought at hotspots and users willing to watch a 30 second ad will favor the free/advertising model significantly. It’s only a matter of time before companies realize this, and we will start to get numerous wireless access zones around the city, airports, and eventually everywhere. What do you think? Would you prefer free, ad-supported web viewing over paid internet access?