Back in 2000, Austin was a very high-tech place and the Austin Bergstrom International Airport was perhaps the first airport to have Wi-Fi available in the terminal.
The service wasn’t free, but least it was there.
Now, of course, pretty much every airport is wired and, increasingly, the service is offered for free.
For some reason, Austin’s airport has been a free Wi-Fi holdout.
Not anymore: the Austin airport has worked out a deal with Boingo Wireless to offer complimentary Wi-Fi service. But it’s a hybrid system:
Travelers will only get one complimentary Wi-Fi session each 24 hours, so if you’re doing more than just sending a quick email, you’ll have to pony up and pay for additional, more robust, service.
There are however, some free internet access kiosks at Gates 5, 8, 11, 15, 21 and in baggage claim.
Paid options include: $4.95 for one hour, $7.95 for a day pass, or $9.95 for a month of unlimited access at all of Boingo’s North and South America hotspot locations. If you’re working on an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, you can buy one-hour Boingo credits for $1.99 at the iTunes Store.
And if you do find yourself stuck at Austin-Bergstrom Airport, there are plenty of reasons not to spend all your time on the computer.
Austin’s airport has a great deal of art and an ambitious Music in the Air concert series that includes close to a dozen live in-terminal concerts a week.