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Re: Tuesday, May 28, 2002
The three Cisco Aironet 350 access points were all configured and working aboard the Volendam, until the ship pulled out of port. Then they started to fail as more MAC users started using the system. Perhaps the DHCP and repeater mode did not work well together witht he 10/100 Ethernet switch we were connected to in the Internet Cafe, but the solution was to replace all of the Cisco access points with a single 3COM access point. Both the Cisco and 3COM access points are 802.11b Wi-Fi, but the 3COM AP worked better with the MAC AirPort clients over the course of the cruise than the Cisco APs. The range was very good: the Library, Internet Cafe, Hudson Conference Room, Half Moon Meeting Room, Explorer's Lounge, and Registration Desks were all within the cell of coverage. The access speed ranged from 20 kbps to 98 kbps, except when the system was completly unavailable, at which point even the Internet Cafe was unable to connect. The only thing missing from the Library geek sessions was Star Bucks, and you could always get coffee at the Java Cafe and bring it upstairs. For the most part, the quality of service for the wireless Internet access was acceptable under the conditions of being at sea, but everyone enjoyed the geekieness of being in the same area of the ship. Few people used the Explorer's Lounge, even though it was better location than the Library, but this is probably our Coming of Age in Somoa, our lap tops as cultural artifacts in the anthropology of tribalistic ritual. We are visiting Alaska looking at totems poles and we still refer to our desktop glyphs as "icons." Perhaps we need to discuss the "OS as Archetype" on the next cruise. (We are not a Cult!)
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