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Starbucks began offering up a product for free. No, it isn’t a tall non-fat latte with an extra shot. It’s wireless Internet access. Now, for those of us who have been used to paying up to 10 bucks for an hour of wi-fi in public places, this sounds great. But free wi-fi is pretty much the norm in the small Baltic nation of Estonia. And Estonians have one man to thank for that. The World’s Clark Boyd reports from the Estonian capital Tallinn. (Veljo Haamer. Photo: Clark Boyd)
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MARCO WERMAN: Starbucks recently began offering something for free in the US and Canada. And no, it’s not their tall latte. It’s wireless Internet access. That’s great news for Americans used to paying up to 10 bucks for an hour of wi-fi. But in the small Baltic nation of Estonia, free wi-fi is pretty much the norm. The World’s Clark Boyd reports from the capital Tallinn that Estonians have one man to thank for that.
CLARK BOYD: First, the requisite clichés about Estonia. Yes, almost all banking is done online. Yes, the country is pioneering Internet voting on the national level. And yes, geeks have dubbed it E-stonia.
TOOMAS HENDRIK ILVES: Well, we’ve gotten to the point where we consider Internet access more or less of a right.
BOYD: Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves.
ILVES: Which manifests itself in near ubiquitous public access. Estonians tend to get angry when they don’t have wi-fi access.
BOYD: In fact it’s now a running joke in Europe, says Tallinn resident Veljo Haamer.
VELJO HAAMER: An Estonian comes to different state, and first question is “Where is free wi-fi?” Not the food, not the drinks so much, but where is free wi-fi? Do you have free wi-fi?
BOYD: That’s in large part because of Haamer. Back in 2000, Haamer took a trip to New York City.
HAAMER: I visited the Bryant Park on the Broadway. And that was really my first experience with public wi-fi and I saw people around me using computers with free Internet access.
BOYD: When he returned home he decided I’ll blanket the entire country in free wi-fi. It is, after all, a small country. Haamer became a kind of Johnny Appleseed. He went around to cities and towns, touting the virtues of free wi-fi. Most local officials didn’t bite, but individual cafes and bars did, especially in Tallinn. And Haamer enjoys nothing more than showing off his handiwork. The main square in Tallinn’s Old Town is lined with pubs, restaurants, and cafes. In the windows of most of these places, you see little black and orange signs that say, “Free wi-fi.” Haamer pops inside one of these cafes to chat.
HAAMER: In Old Town in Tallinn, yes we have done something like 75 percent of cafes with free wi-fi. You just need to sit down and pay for your coffee, your tea, your cake and don’t spend any coin on Internet access.
BOYD: Haamer just manages to scrape together a living doing this. He charges cafes 300 to 500 dollars for installing wi-fi and he also maintains the connection. The businesses just bill the cost of wi-fi into their food and drink. But Haamer’s not done yet. He’s already installed wi-fi on two long distance bus lines from Tallinn to Riga in Latvia, and to St. Petersburg in Russia. And now that Estonians are increasingly using their smart phones to access the Internet, he’s teamed up with local cellular provider Elisa. They’re testing a fourth generation, or 4G, cellular network that’s designed to carry data at high speed. Anders Karlsson of Elisa networks says his company is happy to work with Haamer.
ANDERS KARLSSON: He’s famous name in Estonia, and has made a lot of good for our people. That’s why we are testing and [INDISCERNABLE] the 4G at the moment.
BOYD: During my stay in Tallinn, Haamer invites me along to a meeting at city hall. He makes his pitch to city officials, telling them how great it would be to use 4g to make Internet access available on the local busses and trams. But no go. One official tells Haamer we tried that on the busses two years ago, and nobody used it. Haamer leaves the city offices disappointed. As we climb up the Old City walls, Haamer looks out over the Baltic to where the ferries are headed to Helsinki, Finland. He says the Finns are already providing wireless Internet service on some trams and busses.
HAAMER: Most people are able to use their iPhones, or Android phones, for wi-fi access. And if such a thing exists in Helsinki and has success, so why not in Tallinn?
BOYD: Haamer says he’ll continue to press Estonian officials. If they don’t get on board, he says, well, he’ll do what he can by himself. For The World, this is Clark Boyd, Tallinn, Estonia.
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