Mobile Wi-Fi hotspots are banned from Olympic venues

If you have ever been stuck in a foreign airport with nothing to do, you'd probably check out any available Wi-Fi hotspots then have your mouth hanging open a few moments later as the page asking for your Visa details loads. This may be the same feeling some keen visitors to the Olympic games feel in the coming fortnight.

The London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) plans to prohibit the use of mobile Wi-Fi hotspots. While anyone is free to use their laptop, smartphone or tablet with its own 3G connectivity, it is the sharing part that is prohibited. How they are going to police this is anyone's guess.

“Personal/private wireless access points and 3G hubs (smart devices such as Android phones, iPhone and tablets are permitted inside venues, but must not be used as wireless access points to connect multiple devices),” – London's Olympic Committee.

British Telecommunications is the official communications partner for the Olympics and they will be the ones providing Wi-Fi hotspots around the venues. Naturally the company is out to turnover some kind of revenue and pricing will start at £5.99 for 90 minutes of access, £9.99 for 24 hours or £26.99 for five days. Luckily, if you are with British Telecommunications, O2 or Tesco Mobile you will be able to access the hotspots without paying the same fees as those on other carriers or international visitors.

KitGuru says: While I struggle to see how this will be policed, it is an interesting ban.

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