Friday, February 28, 2003
More WiFi Access In Hotels
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "NEWS" @ 11:30 AM
http://rss.com.com/2100-1039-986273.html
"Marriott International and Intel on Thursday announced a campaign to promote high-speed wireless access to the Internet at about 400 hotels in the United States, Canada and several countries in Europe. Marriott, based in Washington, D.C., said the co-marketing agreement with Intel will include advertising and direct mail that inform travelers of its wireless network service built on 802.11b technology."
Marriot International is the owner of Marriott, Renaissance, Courtyard, Residence Inn and other hotels in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada.
On the face of it, this sound like great news, but when you read the fine print, I can't see using it that much. "Travelers with laptops that have wireless capability will pay $2.95 in the United States for the first 15 minutes, and 25 cents for each additional minute." I'm not saying they should give it away, but something reasonable like a $5/day all-you-can-eat plan is far more attractive. Paying by the minute or in 15 minute blocks is insane. Get online, suck down all of your messages, get offline, respond, get online, shoot out the replies, get off line. $6. All the while you are unable to have IM running in the background. No thanks. I'll use my GPRS connection and pay the speed penalty. Your thoughts?
"Marriott International and Intel on Thursday announced a campaign to promote high-speed wireless access to the Internet at about 400 hotels in the United States, Canada and several countries in Europe. Marriott, based in Washington, D.C., said the co-marketing agreement with Intel will include advertising and direct mail that inform travelers of its wireless network service built on 802.11b technology."
Marriot International is the owner of Marriott, Renaissance, Courtyard, Residence Inn and other hotels in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada.
On the face of it, this sound like great news, but when you read the fine print, I can't see using it that much. "Travelers with laptops that have wireless capability will pay $2.95 in the United States for the first 15 minutes, and 25 cents for each additional minute." I'm not saying they should give it away, but something reasonable like a $5/day all-you-can-eat plan is far more attractive. Paying by the minute or in 15 minute blocks is insane. Get online, suck down all of your messages, get offline, respond, get online, shoot out the replies, get off line. $6. All the while you are unable to have IM running in the background. No thanks. I'll use my GPRS connection and pay the speed penalty. Your thoughts?
