
Ask HN: Why there is a rise in WiFi hotspot market? - mtndes
Despite the fact that the mobile internet is more affordable nowadays, all the reports I could find online claims that the WiFi hotspot market is expanding year by year.<p>There is a certain increase in demand in the markets where people, before the rise of mobile internet, had to want, because there wasn&#x27;t other options. i.e: cafes, restaurants, inter-city busses and etc. And right now even though the mobile internet has become more accessible and affordable, the demand in these areas still seem to be persistent and even increasing. I&#x27;ve talked to many people and all say the same thing: &quot;We don&#x27;t connect to WiFi in cafes or restaurants or buses anymore. We use the mobile net&quot;.<p>What is the reason this market is expanding? What I&#x27;m missing?<p>Any ideas?
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Nextgrid
The cancer that is marketing/advertising is driving this. It's true that
people don't need a hotspot (the experience connecting to one is also awful,
and often the backhaul is a single, shitty DSL connection anyway so much
slower than even 3G).

Marketing/advertising pushes this to retailers as yet another way to stalk
customers, get their details, etc and I guess the snake oil is working if the
market is expanding. It's artificially created demand though; outside of the
very low class everyone has access to more than enough mobile data and very
few actually need to use these hotspots. Eventually the bubble is gonna pop.

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torvald
> We don't connect to WiFi in cafes or restaurants or buses anymore. We use
> the mobile net.

My bet is that this comes only from people with full time jobs. The world is
still full of youth or unemployment where free WiFi still makes sense.

And with a more affordable data plan there is also a increasing amount of data
to be transferred with higher bitrates, more megapixels and more video content
in general -- I guess it equals out for an everyday user.

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qualsiasi
In the city I'm living in (Italy) buildings are old (and with 2 ft stone
walls, on average) so that mobile phones can only rely on wifi when you are
indoors. I think this may apply to any old (like several centuries old) city.
I don't know if cities of this kind are enough to make a statistically
relevant case.

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gshdg
Do people really use cellular on laptops? Also, cellular is still painfully
expensive in the US, and even unlimited plans get throttled.

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hboon
Does that include people who are travelling?

