 Wireless in the EnterpriseThis newsletter is sponsored by AirWave WirelessNetwork World's Wireless in the Enterprise Newsletter, 09/17/07The forgotten mobile middle classBy Joanie WexlerI’m at Newark International Airport being prompted for the fourth or fifth time this week to sign up for a Wi-Fi hot spot service costing between $7.95 and $9.95. It will last until I move on to the next airport, hotel room or cafe, where a different provider will offer its services for still another fee. Mobility needs to get easier. My first stop this trip was in a North Carolina Marriott, where I settled into a room that offered only an ancient dial-up Internet connection (which I discovered once already unpacked and in my PJs). Even if I thought I could tolerate working with dial-up, the point is moot, because there is no internal modem-with-phone jack on my Macbook.
From there, I schlepped my belongings across the hall to a room with wired Ethernet service. It worked whenever it felt like it. I was also charged $9.95 every few hours instead of once a day, an administrative quirk I had to remedy upon checkout. So I tried the “free” wireless LAN in the lobby. I had no trouble connecting to the WLAN. But the WLAN couldn’t seem to connect to the Internet. So, with a sigh, I moved on to the next segment of my travels in New Jersey. From there, I visited a client, who had promised WLAN access and a temporary cubicle. But when I got to the guest WLAN portal, I needed a username and password that no one seemed to know how to get. My client looked into it and discovered that it would take “several weeks” for IT to set me up in a guest user database. More on guest access next time. But, generally, mobility needs to be simpler for those of us who don’t have the plutonium-flyer status that buys free access to airline clubs or can justify paying a flat monthly fee for “everywhere” Wi-Fi access. Those of us who hit the road a handful of times a year are the forgotten middle class when it comes to mobility.
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| Contact the author: Joanie Wexler is an independent networking technology writer/editor in California's Silicon Valley who has spent most of her career analyzing trends and news in the computer networking industry. She welcomes your comments on the articles published in this newsletter, as well as your ideas for future article topics. Reach her at joanie@jwexler.com. This newsletter is sponsored by AirWave WirelessARCHIVEArchive of the Wireless in the Enterprise Newsletter. BONUS FEATUREIT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICESTo subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007 |
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