Abstract
Being always connected is among the new needs of tourists, who are using more and more smartphones for that goal. Still, data roaming costs are a major obstacle to that end. If hotel Wi-Fi connections are offering part of the solution, municipal Wi-Fi networks are the most interesting offer for connectivity on the go, a connectivity offered both to own citizens and tourists. The touristic city of Lugano (Switzerland) has been offering an open Wi-Fi network since 2008. In the paper usage data, assessed via log files as well as via a survey automatically displayed to connecting users, are presented and discussed, providing a vivid profile of users (personas), and of their usage-patterns; they also offer insights about the difference between citizens and tourists when it comes to their usage of the Wi-Fi network.
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This study was only possible thanks to the kind collaboration of AIL (Aziende Industriali di Lugano).
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Picco-Schwendener, A., Cantoni, L. (2015). Tourists and Municipal Wi-Fi Networks (MWN): The Case of Lugano (Switzerland). In: Tussyadiah, I., Inversini, A. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2015. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14343-9_41
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