Who cares about conference Wifi anymore?

November 8, 2006 By

Ethan Kaplan does. He complains about spending $3,500 to attend a conference without being able to get good Wifi.

Damn dude. If you can afford $3,500 for a conference then spend $80 a month on Verizon Wireless like I do. You won’t care anymore about conference Wifi. My Verizon wireless worked just fine the whole conference.

So, what should we care about? Access to power outlets! :-)

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  • http://www.ewanspence.com/ Ewan Spence

    Well coming from the UK to US conferences means I have no choice but to rely on Wi-Fi in many cases. So for sure some of you can spend all that a month, and write it off, but the point still stands. Maybe with all teh power strips that are thrown out people could just add some old fashioned wired connections we can hardwire into?

  • http://www.ewanspence.com/ Ewan Spence

    Well coming from the UK to US conferences means I have no choice but to rely on Wi-Fi in many cases. So for sure some of you can spend all that a month, and write it off, but the point still stands. Maybe with all teh power strips that are thrown out people could just add some old fashioned wired connections we can hardwire into?

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  • http://chriskelley.org/ Chris

    Robert – two things real quick:

    1 – on yours and others loud praises I got a Verizon EVDO card a few months ago. I have been really happy with it so far, except when I travel to Seattle, specifically Redmond. Of all the places I go Redmond and Bellview seem to have almost no reception. Did you have any problems when you were on campus at MSFT?

    2 – on your comment about conference organizers making sure to have plenty of access to power outlets, might I suggest an external battery from Batterygeek. I am in no way affiliated with them, but have been a happy customer of their’s for 6 months. I use one of their portable power stations whenever I go to conferences. On a recent trip it powered my HP TC4400 for the flight from Cincinnati to Seattle and then straight into a 8 hour conference. If you want to be completely wire free this is the ticket.

  • http://chriskelley.org Chris

    Robert – two things real quick:

    1 – on yours and others loud praises I got a Verizon EVDO card a few months ago. I have been really happy with it so far, except when I travel to Seattle, specifically Redmond. Of all the places I go Redmond and Bellview seem to have almost no reception. Did you have any problems when you were on campus at MSFT?

    2 – on your comment about conference organizers making sure to have plenty of access to power outlets, might I suggest an external battery from Batterygeek. I am in no way affiliated with them, but have been a happy customer of their’s for 6 months. I use one of their portable power stations whenever I go to conferences. On a recent trip it powered my HP TC4400 for the flight from Cincinnati to Seattle and then straight into a 8 hour conference. If you want to be completely wire free this is the ticket.

  • http://www.stephan-schwab.com/ Stephan Schwab

    Too sad that foreign visitors of conferences can’t connect with those all so wonderful EVDO cards. WiFi is the same whereever in the world you go.

  • http://www.stephan-schwab.com Stephan Schwab

    Too sad that foreign visitors of conferences can’t connect with those all so wonderful EVDO cards. WiFi is the same whereever in the world you go.

  • http://edu.blogs.com/ Ewan McIntosh

    I’m feeling quite well endowed after all this with my 2GB upload/download per month on my Vario with T Mobile. My organisation gave me the smartphone and challenged me to outstrip the month allowance – which only costs us £8.50 per month! I’m working on it….

    I’ll show you, Robert, when you’re over in London at the end of the month.

  • http://edu.blogs.com Ewan McIntosh

    I’m feeling quite well endowed after all this with my 2GB upload/download per month on my Vario with T Mobile. My organisation gave me the smartphone and challenged me to outstrip the month allowance – which only costs us £8.50 per month! I’m working on it….

    I’ll show you, Robert, when you’re over in London at the end of the month.

  • http://www.cfree.ro/ Dan Berte

    A 5-day 10th European Conference of Health Information and Libraries held in Cluj Napoca, Romania, offered free WiFi across the venue for its nearly 500 delegates, staff and visitors. The organizers wanted it that way. Where EV-DO broadband or 3G service is available as monthly subscription, nobody looked at it as an option for the 5 conference days. Some told me they were amazed by the WiFi service and by the fact it was free esp. when most conference venues charge hard cash for less.
    Robert, I believe your point is mis-aimed at the wrong issue. It’s not WiFi itself.

    Actually, it’s exectly this kind of negative vibes about WiFi I fear most. Getting a couple of people complaining about one crappy service is enaugh to herald all others as being same.

  • http://www.cfree.ro Dan Berte

    A 5-day 10th European Conference of Health Information and Libraries held in Cluj Napoca, Romania, offered free WiFi across the venue for its nearly 500 delegates, staff and visitors. The organizers wanted it that way. Where EV-DO broadband or 3G service is available as monthly subscription, nobody looked at it as an option for the 5 conference days. Some told me they were amazed by the WiFi service and by the fact it was free esp. when most conference venues charge hard cash for less.
    Robert, I believe your point is mis-aimed at the wrong issue. It’s not WiFi itself.

    Actually, it’s exectly this kind of negative vibes about WiFi I fear most. Getting a couple of people complaining about one crappy service is enaugh to herald all others as being same.

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