世論 What Japan Thinks

japan.internet.com reported on a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research into the use of public wireless LAN connections. On the 7th of January they interviewed 330 people employed in public or private enterprise. 80.3% of the sample was male, 15.8% in their twenties, 41.5% in their thirties, 30.3% in their forties, 10.0% in their fifties, and 2.4% in their sixties.

Note that in another survey last year, almost half of all interviewed used a wireless connection at home, so it isn’t a lack of awareness holding back people, although it could of course be a lack of portable machines, although since JR Tokai Express Research’s monitor base is heavily business-person oriented (it mainly advertises though, and awards points for discounts on, shinkansen bullet trains) one might expect there to be a high percentage of people with portable devices capable of accessing WiFi access points. Perhaps the full survey results analyse this aspect, and why almost three in five want to use public WiFi but haven’t yet.

I’m writing this whilst sitting in the biggest Freds Cafe (lovely bread, well worth a visit!) in Hankyuu Umeda station in Osaka, but there is absolutely no WiFi signal present according to NetStumbler. Anyone know about the availability of free (and legal!) WiFi in central Osaka? Apart from Starbucks, who I refuse to patronise, where else is there?

Q1: Have you every used a public wireless LAN service at railway stations, cafes, hotels, etc? (Sample size=330)

Used one (to SQs)	24.8%
Not used one, but want to	59.7%
Not used one, and not interested	15.5%

It is not clear whether hotels here means just the lobby or other public spaces or the hotel rooms too.

Q1SQ1: For about how long on average each time do you use a public wireless network connection? (Sample size=82)

Less than 30 minutes	45%
30 minutes to 1 hour	35%
1 to 2 hours	13%
2 to 3 hours	2%
3 hours or more	4%

Q1SQ2: With what kind of devices do you connect to public WiFi LANs? (Sample size=82, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Notebook computer	77	94%
PDA	9	11%
Games machine	6	7%
Mobile phone	1	1%
Don’t know or don’t remember	0	0.0%
Other	0	0.0%