Cool Paris

Travellers to Paris are never far from an internet hot spot

While Paris’ numerous parks are better known for flowers and statuary  between young lovers than for technology, these days one is as likely to see couples surfing the internet as smooching in public.  That’s because the city has taken the lead in internet technology for the masses and two years ago launched a campaign to get free internet hot spots (or wi-fi as the French call it, pronounded “wee-fee”) into parks and other public area in all 20 arrondissements of Paris. Long dotted with pay-as-you-go internet cafes, Paris now offers people all over town places ot get online for free.

This is bad news for the internet cafes, but great news for everyone else in Paris, especially tourists. For one thing, budget hotels may not have internet access, and some hotels that do still charge for it, profiting on the fact that many tourists don’t yet know about the free hot spots or prefer the convenience of 24/7 access in their rooms (the parks’ service generally runs between the hours of 7 AM and 11 PM).