The Cloud hit the City of London this past Monday, April 23, 2007. The Cloud operates wireless networks across the UK, Germany, and Sweden.

For its first month of service, The Cloud is free, thanks to Nokia. Get it while you can! The Cloud—and all of the providers that can function within it, including BT—will charge upwards of £5 an hour to use it once the inaugural month of service has passed.

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Photo by Umbar

Bring your laptop to Paris this summer and set yourself up in a park.

The city is preparing to roll out 400 free Wi-Fi hotspots. It’s all part of an ambitious plan called “Paris Ville Numerique” which aims to make Paris one of the world’s most connected cities. The aim is to foster a more nomadic lifestyle in public places like parks, gardens, and public libraries.

Each hotspot should be able to sustain 30 users simultaneously. A detailed map of all the access points—which will include 63 public libraries, 200 public gardens and 40 district offices of the city hall—is available at the city’s Web site.

The ultimate goal of Bertrand Delanoe, the Socialist mayor, is city-wide coverage by the end of 2007. There are additional plans to improve street furniture, notably in the university district in the 13th arrondissement, to make laptop users more comfortable.

For the moment, many Paris cafes offer Wi-Fi, but you often have to pay by the hour. One of our favourite places for free and reliable wireless access is Columbus Cafe, a Starbucks-style chain which has two non-smoking locations at 81 rue St-Dominique in the 7th arrondissement (Metro: Rue du Bac) and 25 rue Vieille-du-Temple in the 4th arrondissement (Metro Saint-Paul).

Popularity: 3% [?]