I’ve seen this film repeatedly over the past several years, and I’ve seen it again today. Staying in a resort somewhere along Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, I’m out on the balcony with my laptop and I decide to see if I can get to my e-mail.

My laptop tells me that a dozen or more wireless networks are available. Good news so far.

The bad news is, they’re all locked or password-protected. I’m surrounded by connectivity and it’s all inaccessible.

Admittedly, to the average 18-year-old tourist in these resorts, high on low-priced alcohol, open WiFi internet access points are probably way down on the list of important things, most likely together with “call mum ‘n’ dad to let them know all’s well”.

For those of us who are no longer 18 and for whom the thrill of low-priced alcohol has long lost its charm, having WiFi access points (also referred to as “WiFi watering holes”) available is about as essential as, well, access to running water.

But it seems that businesses have not yet caught on to this market. What is made available is either inaccessible, or ridiculously overpriced (between five and nine leva an hour), or simply not aimed at travellers who only stay for a short period of time.

Earlier this year, Nexcom made some noise in local media, announcing that it would provide WiFi for free in the Bourgas and Slunchev Bryag (Sunny Beach) areas. However, the service (look for networks called NexcomHotSpot) only covers certain, smaller areas and so far I haven’t been able to connect to any of these access points.

Don’t expect the service to be advertised anywhere, either, as the company has only announced it in a media statement, with no other publicity given to the service. You’d almost think that they’re afraid that people would actually use it.

What Nexcom does advertise is its WiMax service, but the shortest term contract for this is six months. No good if you’re only staying for a few weeks.

At least part of the locked networks that proudly announced their presence when I opened my laptop on the balcony were owned and operated by bars and restaurants in the immediate neighbourhood.

Some of these places had put up a sign on their establishment advertising the service, but many others don’t advertise it. Those who do put up a sign almost never use the international standard symbol for a WiFi zone.

Signs are generally not clearly visible or easy to find and never tell you whether you’ll be charged additionally for use of the service. I’ve found several places that do provide the service for free, but only to customers; they tell you the password when you order.

It is almost as if business owners realise that the rest of their service package – the seating, the music, the food and drinks served, the service itself – would be hardly enough reason to visit the establishment.

Is it really that hard to see how providing freely accessible WiFi watering holes does help to bring in customers?

Instead, WiFi connectivity is treated as a needless and expensive extra, something that is complicated and brings complex issues of access control with it. Therefore, it needs to be locked, guarded and advertised as little as possible.

The uselessness, and above all, the irony of inaccessible network connectivity seems to completely escape these business owners.