One less bill means
less work, more play

A section of London along the Thames River now has free Wi-Fi available to its citizens, thanks to a unique partnership and business model, reports BusinessWeek.

The service is provided through the partnership of free-hotspot.com and wi-fi infrastructure company MeshHopper.

The cost of connection is supported entirely by advertising. In exchange for 15 minutes of free connectivity, viewers watch a 15 to 30 second ad. If they decline, they simply pay a small fee.

Paid access is slightly faster, but improved connection speeds have been promised for later this summer.

This is the latest free Wi-Fi spot set up in Europe by free-hotspot.com, as well as the largest to date. The company operates 1,500 smaller such zones around the continent, with more coming.