Surfing in public is up

iPass has debuted its Mobile Broadband Index, which summarizes data from 80,000 hotspots, in over 80 countries and across 3,000 enterprise customers.

According to iPass, wi-fi hotspot use is up by 89 percent globally among business users since the second half of 2006, with Europe overtaking the US. The number of sessions were also up 68 percent in 2007.

In the company's assessment of wi-fi hotspots at public places like cafes and bookstores, iPass found most public places saw big climbs. Cafe users, for example, logged in for 66 minutes on average, an increase of 35 percent from 2006 to 2007.

Restaurant users surfed for 44 minutes, up 217 percent, while those at train stations went online for 26 minutes, marking a 238 percent increase.

The US led other countries in public wi-fi use, increasing 60 percent from the end of 2006. London was the top city three times over; but then again, it also has a free public wi-fi program in place.