Internet players like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are sponsoring free Wi-Fi hotspots in airports, hotels and even Time Square in hopes of easing holiday travel and winning over some new customers.

If you are traveling through one of 47 airports with free wireless access this holiday season, you can thank Google. You’ll just also be asked to change your default search engine to Google and try the company’s Chrome browser.

If you plan to visit Times Square in New York any time in the next year, you can log onto the free Wi-Fi provided by Yahoo. That promotion starts today and will run for an entire year.

Microsoft has teamed up with mobile access provider JiWire to allow free Wi-Fi at airports and hotels across the nation. All you have to do in order to log on is make one search on Microsoft’s Bing search engine.

EBay has also gotten into the free Wi-Fi marketing mix by offering free Wi-Fi on domestic flights on Delta airlines during the Thanksgiving travel rush. Then EBay will invite travelers to complete their holiday shopping while on board.

It’s strange to see all these major online players jumping on the free Wi-Fi marketing bandwagon all at the same time. You would think that the campaigns could be less effective with all these competitors making similar offers.

Either way free wireless Internet does make being stuck in an airport or flying across the country during the busiest time of year a little more tolerable. However, the companies are still looking for a boost in their business from these marketing campaigns.

It’s interesting to see a shift from interest in municipal Wi-Fi to a corporate-sponsored model, especially for a venue like Times Square. If these campaigns are successful, we could continue to see sponsored wireless access become a larger year-round trend.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 8:05 am under Technology, Wi-Fi.

Read more entries by Dave Jeyes.
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