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European Commission has a "Wifi4EU" initative, provides 93k high-speed private access points across the EU, free of charge. (europe.pub)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/25779751

The intative promises to be privacy-friendly with no tracking. Stating:

Your privacy is important. The WiFi4EU app ensures a private online experience with no tracking or data collection. Simply connect and enjoy free public Wi-Fi without concerns.

Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/wifi4eu-citizens

Will be interesting to see how this spans and plays out in reality. Looks promising too, did a quick scan of their builtin permissions and trackers and looks good too. (Scanning tool is called Exodus)

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[+] -6 points 1 year ago (13 children)

This seems a bit wasteful. Everyone already has a phone with network connection, most having infinite data, and statistics are rapidly improving. I don't remember the last time I had to use public wifi, feels a bit outdated and insecure.

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  • [–] 23 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    Infinite data is not a thing, especially not outside the home country.

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  • [–] -4 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    What do you mean by this? It's literally a thing. As soon as I cross a country border, I even get a message saying "Keep enjoying unlimited data abroad", while torrenting nearly terabyte a month. Paying 26€ per month.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    Good for you. What makes you think every country has the same package available?

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  • [–] -4 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Literal eu law that says they can't charge roaming?

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago
    1. Not everybody in the EU is living in the EU.
    2. I didn't mention roaming. Not everybody has the same unlimited data for cheap package
    3. From my understanding, the no-roaming charge law is being ignored pretty widely, in spirit if not in letter (different quota if at home vs roaming).
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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    Not charging roaming does not mean that your unlimited plan carries over abroad. It just means you can't be charged more for using your plan abroad.

    It is still legal and widely done to have different limits abroad vs domestic.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    They don't charge roaming, but they are allowed to sell limited-data plans. Those plans are also limited abroad. This is okay.

    Sure you can get unlimited plans but they axe extremely expensive and not worth it for normal people. I don't stream terabytes on my phone. I use my unlimited home DSL for that.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    most having infinite data

    That's a bold claim. Do you have some official figures to back that up? Where I live, I don't know of anyone with truly unlimited mobile internet.

    The cheaper unlimited tariffs cost around €30, but have at least one of the following restrictions:

    • Speed limit after x volume used
    • Poor network coverage
    • <15MBit/s speed
    • Significantly increased costs after 2 years of contract term
    • Cancellation by provider if consumption is too high
    • only a few Gb at full speed included in EU roaming

    Genuine unlimited contracts with stable network coverage and 300 Mbit/s usually cost around €80-100 per month here. And unlimited EU roaming is still not included by default.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Here in France we have "Free" (which is not free, costs 20€/month) which is not unlimited but something like 250GB/month last time I looked, and frequently increasing. I never ran out of data.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (1 child)

    That's a bold claim. Do you have some official figures to back that up?

    I somehow assumed that if we have reasonable plans, limits and laws in east europe, surely you have it better in central european hub, you know? But no, I lazied out on checking the official figures, but where I live, I rarely hear about someone paying for limited plan, it's just not worth it to save 10€ and worry about hitting walls.

    Speaking of slow speeds, I live in semi-rural area and here's my speedtest: https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/11047555422 (on 5G)

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Sorry, that wasn't meant to sound so accusatory. I guess I (and probably a lot of other downvoters) are just very frustrated because your assumption doesn't hold true, at least for Germany. I'm very envious of the Internet infrastructure that has been built in Latvia and Romania, for example. I would like to see the same here, but the government already considers 50 MBit DSL to be progressive.

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