No Such Weblog

I'm now sitting at Munich airport, using Vodafone's hot-spot here. 30 minutes Internet access cost me about 4 Euros (1,300 Star Alliance miles would have been the alternative -- quite a price tag) -- and several minutes for figuring out how to deal with the billing system that Vodafone put in place here. The system works by submitting credit card information through a web form, and then receiving a PIN through SMS on a mobile phone.

For the customer, this system brings a large number of disadvantages over an open WLAN network; also, it's unaccessible for anyone but subscribers of a few domestic mobile phone operators. What's so difficult about providing free and open WLAN access as a commodity that just works when you neeed it?

Later: It fits into the picture that the e-mail receipt arrives two days later and consists of a PDF file that's tagged as plain text.