as Wi-Fi hotspots increase, small businesses in the UK are preferring to give access to users of smartphones and tablets free

coffee that puts a sign offering free products usually does with fear: and if the fever is very high and it costs much more to offer than it brings in

But Derek Thompson, owner of the Wolverines coffee in the town of Saffron Walden, had no such concerns. Over the past 18 months, has been offering wireless Internet access in coffee - initially requested by customers who have noticed that there was a Wi-Fi network that covers the installation and asking for password

His is one of a growing number of small restaurants and diners who have discovered that smartphones more and more people own can send and receive emails and surf the web, are more happier to have a broadband connection and is open to customers for free.

As economic clouds darken, they discovered that the Internet is the equivalent of a cup of coffee that never ends, only better: the heating is not necessary and n ' that needs electricity. And it's not interfering with the normal operation of its business, and improving.

"In the beginning was created only for our own employees," says Thompson. "Then people will ask for the password, so we made a numerical code for each person. Then I felt it might encourage customers to come back if you just opened. Being a" restaurant "instead a restaurant, he wanted the people early in the morning I often sit here a bit and look after the affairs of things. "With, of course, a cup of coffee and maybe a piece of cake.

wolverine is not alone: ??eating establishments increasingly discovering that a sign - the same used by Thompson, which states simply presented WI-FI in the window - can attract customers at the beginning of December, the food chain McDonalds has announced that customers in its 1200 points in the UK is downloaded 500 gigabytes (GB) of data every day, and the number of customers has doubled over the past year.

According to Informa Telecoms & Media, an analyst of the company, while the number of "premium" Wi-Fi in the UK rose from 33,000 in 2010 to 54,000 in 2011, while the proportion of those who are free - from 40% to 45%. from 13 200-24 300, an increase of 84%

The latest figures from communications regulator Ofcom notes that the owners of smartphones account for 46% - or 28m - British mobile users, well ahead of other major European countries and the number is growing by millions each quarter. At the same time, however, operators have begun to suppress their offers of "unlimited" data over the wireless network. Contracts, introduced the iPhone in 2007, is gradually reduced in favor of the scarcity of data "plug" of about 500 megabytes (MB) per month - enough for thousands of emails, or web browsing, or two hours "200 hours of listening to poor quality of catch-up service BBC iPlayer.
No wonder Wi-Fi "hotspots" are in high demand. The National Bureau of Statistics recently estimated that 4.9 million people connected via Wi-Fi "hot spots" in 2010 in places such as hotels, airports and cafes of 2010 -. From 0.7 in 2007