Surf @ £4320/mth & crap wi-fi!
07/09/06
Travelling is a pain in the butt at the best of
times, just ask Columbus or the Oregon trail
families. However, internet facilities en route to
the final destination can make the task almost
palatable for the growing number of air passengers
who appreciate a reliable link home.
It is comforting to send messages to loved ones, saying, "Hi, honey, I didn't crash." And the bosses of road warrior business folk insist more and more that they can check their minions aren't home! So there is a need. And to a degree the need is being met in Britain and Spain. You can surf on terminals in many airports and there are wi-fi hot spots for laptops apparently all over the country. But you enjoy the service, in my experience, with a few caveats. Namely, the £4320/month service blows, and the process to go wi-fi leaves you ragged.
£4320/month? Yes, at £1 for 10 minutes to use a real computer, a special kiosk or a 21st century phone booth, do the maths, it is extortion. And at that price, the service should be bombproof, but it bombs! And how hard can it be to to sort out a wi-fi connection? It is hard. Just make sure you have plenty of time before leaving home, ie don't rely on airport internet facilities or service providers to set an account up for wireless in a hurry.
US readers will wonder what on earth I am on about. There is extensive internet and wi-fi coverage all over their continent. This is true, but for much of Europe, "Uh, no!", I suggest you do your homework better than I did!.
Thinking that my ultra dependable laptop didn't work because I needed to get signed up somewhere first, I tried logging on to a second terminal at the airport to reach the Cloud's website. It clearly said the browser window for their website would appear if you had a wireless card in your laptop. Go figure. Anyway, surfing the net on a computer terminal that did work for £1 per 10 minutes, I managed to decipher that to log-in wirelessly, you have to pay money to service providers who include iPass and the mighty internet telephony giants, Skype. With my time fast disappearing, how hard could it be to open a homepage to a Cloud-friendly website, find services and instructions on how to pay good money for a way to get on-line wirelessly for a day? I would say it was impossible.
iPass had its head so far up its own self importance about what it could and couldn't do technically, it failed to mention how a silly consumer like me could take advantage of their fantastic-nesses. As for Skype, who boast "Mac-like" usability, there is no quick way to find out about wi-fi services, in fact, there was no evidence they even knew what I was on about. In desparation, as time disappeared faster than my patience, I searched The Cloud in Skype - it didn't show.
So there I was with credit card, fully functional laptop and willingness aplenty, but no connection was forthcoming. Thank you Britain.
What is the easiest way you know to sign up for roaming wi-fi access?
check out the Good Questions page
It is comforting to send messages to loved ones, saying, "Hi, honey, I didn't crash." And the bosses of road warrior business folk insist more and more that they can check their minions aren't home! So there is a need. And to a degree the need is being met in Britain and Spain. You can surf on terminals in many airports and there are wi-fi hot spots for laptops apparently all over the country. But you enjoy the service, in my experience, with a few caveats. Namely, the £4320/month service blows, and the process to go wi-fi leaves you ragged.
£4320/month? Yes, at £1 for 10 minutes to use a real computer, a special kiosk or a 21st century phone booth, do the maths, it is extortion. And at that price, the service should be bombproof, but it bombs! And how hard can it be to to sort out a wi-fi connection? It is hard. Just make sure you have plenty of time before leaving home, ie don't rely on airport internet facilities or service providers to set an account up for wireless in a hurry.
US readers will wonder what on earth I am on about. There is extensive internet and wi-fi coverage all over their continent. This is true, but for much of Europe, "Uh, no!", I suggest you do your homework better than I did!.
Internet kiosks at airports are exhausting
I lost £3/5 euros to 3 airport computers wired to the internet for public use, (one was DOA, another worked, the third was unusable due to parental controls.) May I suggest that you keep your in-transit surfing simple. Stay well away from convenient-looking solutions such as dedicated kiosks, and restrict your efforts to fiddling around on the glorified telephone with built-in touch screen. They work reliably, albeit in a rather fine fingertip kind of way, with no frills thrown in.Wi-fi bollockings for The Cloud, iPass and Skype.
The Cloud advertises wi-fi at 8000 locations, including the John Lennon Airport, Liverpool. Great! Interestingly, they fall at the first hurdle. Their swanky banner says nought about how to join the network. The convenience factor died in a designated wi-fi zone - I could not get a signal. 50 yards away in a burger bar, the signal was almost steady, but no browser window opened.Thinking that my ultra dependable laptop didn't work because I needed to get signed up somewhere first, I tried logging on to a second terminal at the airport to reach the Cloud's website. It clearly said the browser window for their website would appear if you had a wireless card in your laptop. Go figure. Anyway, surfing the net on a computer terminal that did work for £1 per 10 minutes, I managed to decipher that to log-in wirelessly, you have to pay money to service providers who include iPass and the mighty internet telephony giants, Skype. With my time fast disappearing, how hard could it be to open a homepage to a Cloud-friendly website, find services and instructions on how to pay good money for a way to get on-line wirelessly for a day? I would say it was impossible.
iPass had its head so far up its own self importance about what it could and couldn't do technically, it failed to mention how a silly consumer like me could take advantage of their fantastic-nesses. As for Skype, who boast "Mac-like" usability, there is no quick way to find out about wi-fi services, in fact, there was no evidence they even knew what I was on about. In desparation, as time disappeared faster than my patience, I searched The Cloud in Skype - it didn't show.
So there I was with credit card, fully functional laptop and willingness aplenty, but no connection was forthcoming. Thank you Britain.
What is the easiest way you know to sign up for roaming wi-fi access?
check out the Good Questions page
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