Paris park with WiFi
My computer and I recently visited Paris. The hotel Internet was barely usable, but it was a non-issue because Paris offers free WiFi in parks and libraries during open hours. And why stay inside when you could be working from Les Halles or in the garden on top of the Montparnasse train station or any of the dozens of public places equipped with it?
I live in San Francisco, a.k.a. ‘the tech capital of the world’. For the life of me I can’t understand why we don’t have free WiFi in more public spaces. Sure, SF’s public library offers the web in a few places, but you can’t find WiFi in parks. South Park—the green space that hosts Wired, Twitter, and Yahoo employees at lunch—should at the very least have the Web available. Sure, SF is packed with computer friendly coffee houses, but buying a coffee is still payment for getting online.
As a tourist in Paris, I considered the place I was going to work part of the exploration. But I’m in SF for a reason. I love the city and I’d like to spend as much time as I can out in it. I think it’s about time SF facilitated work and play in the same arena.