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Re: Ubiquitous WiFi, Seattle style
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Daniel Carlow
Mar 27, 2013, 7:51:36 AM3/27/13
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On 3/26/2013 11:48 PM, Paul Miner wrote:
>
> I've been in Seattle for the past two months, smack dab in the heart of the
> Lower Queen Anne district. WiFi is almost everywhere here, and that's the
> good news.
>
> Now the bad news. My hotel has free WiFi, but throughput is pitiful. At
> best, I see about 70 kilobits per second, (spelled out to avoid
> misinterpretation), with long periods of zero throughput. Average throughput
> is probably around 20 kbps, but that's not fair because it spikes and
> stalls, spikes and stalls, etc. Email works OK, and web pages load on the
> first try about half the time, but they can be reloaded as many times as it
> takes to get a full page. Skype is completely out of the question. For a
> hotel that costs $175 a night (after corporate discount), you'd think they
> could do better. I see 3 Cisco AP's per floor, times 6 floors and about 40
> units per floor. Not enough AP's and not enough bandwidth, I'm thinking.
>
> This area is loaded with restaurants, bars, and coffee shops, and most of
> them have WiFi. Some places have the key posted where you can see it, (it
> seems to change daily, which is not a problem), while others make you ask
> for the key. Aside: many restaurant restrooms have keycode doorknobs, so
> before you head to the restroom you need to ask for the code, which is a
> good time to ask for the WiFi key.)
>
> What I've found is that, even in a land with lots of WiFi, it's entirely
> unusable out on the sidewalk, and it's frequently unusable inside the
> restaurant or coffee shop. I can connect, but I can't retrieve email
> reliably or load web pages on the first try at most locations.
>
> When I think about how impossible it was to find WiFi in Kansas City, Omaha,
> Oklahoma City, Dallas, and San Antonio, compared to how easily I can find
> WiFi here, I marvel at the fact that having extremely crappy WiFi is really
> not much different from not having it at all.
>
> As most of us know, "ubiquitous WiFi" is a complete joke.
There seems to be a joke here when there is a correlation between the
bathroom
key code and the WIFI key code..... Similar activity, maybe????
>
> I've been in Seattle for the past two months, smack dab in the heart of the
> Lower Queen Anne district. WiFi is almost everywhere here, and that's the
> good news.
>
> Now the bad news. My hotel has free WiFi, but throughput is pitiful. At
> best, I see about 70 kilobits per second, (spelled out to avoid
> misinterpretation), with long periods of zero throughput. Average throughput
> is probably around 20 kbps, but that's not fair because it spikes and
> stalls, spikes and stalls, etc. Email works OK, and web pages load on the
> first try about half the time, but they can be reloaded as many times as it
> takes to get a full page. Skype is completely out of the question. For a
> hotel that costs $175 a night (after corporate discount), you'd think they
> could do better. I see 3 Cisco AP's per floor, times 6 floors and about 40
> units per floor. Not enough AP's and not enough bandwidth, I'm thinking.
>
> This area is loaded with restaurants, bars, and coffee shops, and most of
> them have WiFi. Some places have the key posted where you can see it, (it
> seems to change daily, which is not a problem), while others make you ask
> for the key. Aside: many restaurant restrooms have keycode doorknobs, so
> before you head to the restroom you need to ask for the code, which is a
> good time to ask for the WiFi key.)
>
> What I've found is that, even in a land with lots of WiFi, it's entirely
> unusable out on the sidewalk, and it's frequently unusable inside the
> restaurant or coffee shop. I can connect, but I can't retrieve email
> reliably or load web pages on the first try at most locations.
>
> When I think about how impossible it was to find WiFi in Kansas City, Omaha,
> Oklahoma City, Dallas, and San Antonio, compared to how easily I can find
> WiFi here, I marvel at the fact that having extremely crappy WiFi is really
> not much different from not having it at all.
>
> As most of us know, "ubiquitous WiFi" is a complete joke.
There seems to be a joke here when there is a correlation between the
bathroom
key code and the WIFI key code..... Similar activity, maybe????
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