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Re: Today's blog
You wrote: "If the hospitality industry continues to insist on charging guests on a per-use premium activated by the guest over redirection to a sign-up Web page (as do some Marriotts I've stayed in recently), it'll continue to annoy many guests even more than it serves them. If you're going to charge for it, better to ask the guest at the reception counter if they want their Internet service turned on for $9.95/day, and then to activate it for the room at the hotel's server. As for WiFi , make it free as plants and furniture in the hotel's public spaces, and bury the costs in other charges." This isn't the trend, and it's unlikely to change. There's a good article over at CBS MarketWatch today on a similar subject as the one you point to, but with a financial analysis bent. Basically, it's not the hotels putting in access: it's partners. The partners must recoup massive capital outlays over small purchases. The hotels, if they had installed these networks, even using some contractors, would be pulling back revenue over a much larger capital base. So we're doomed. It's going to cost you $10 per 24-hours at hotels. That's just the price you pay, like biz travellers paying $2,000 to fly from Los Angeles to Atlanta mid-week. That's also why there's an increasingly aggressive movement among a lot of interested professionals in setting up free networks across cities. This doesn't help you at the Piscataquaddymogan International Airport Hilton, but it does help you in the heart of Seattle, Manhattan, or SF. And another thing: you can't authenticate Wi-Fi by room. There's some real problems with current systems and methods for authentication. What you have to do is authenticate by MAC (Media Access Control) address, which is unique (but spoofable and changeable) to every Ethernet device, including 802.11 cards.
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