Wi-Fi is the new HBO
Posted on June 25, 2008
Filed Under Random musing | 1 Comment
Posted by Stan
Older towns that once served roads other than interstate highways are full of signs hanging on shuttered motels advertising “color TV” and “free cable TV” or, if they were cutting edge, “HBO.”
Today the signs on chain hotels that mostly serve interstates more likely advertise “high speed Internet” — and any more that’s “Free Wi-Fi.”
They aren’t the only ones. Motels in out-of-the-way towns (pretty much everything along the Alaska Highway qualifies) now offer wireless connections. We went nearly four days without being able to get an ATT phone signal, but not one without seeing a coffee shop or motel offering Internet service.
They are common in RV parks, although we’ve already been in two where amplifiers were under repair and others where the signal made you long for a 56K modem connection. In one they suggested sitting on a deck where mosquitoes and flies competed for parts of your body or in the laundry room.
In fact, it’s been 10 days since I could get a signal strong enough to add photos to Flickr, my backlog is growing and we’re headed into the Canadian Rockies (you don’t see national, state and provincial parks advertising Wi-Fi). We may be posting pictures from this adventure months after it ends . . .
(The photo above was taken between Fairbanks and Delta Junction, Alaska.)
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One Response to “Wi-Fi is the new HBO”
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I found your posting on WiFi as the new HBO interesting and fairly accurate. In talking with our company founder nearly every week about the options of Free WiFi vs For Fee WiFi it’s apparent that the future of RV parks is to offer a For Fee system otherwise it will always be without functioning and slow as can be. It’s apparently complicated how this has come to be in the RV industry as opposed to the motel and hotel or even coffee shops but I think it’s due to the rural nature of the RV parks, their lack of technical talent, and of course the cost of Internet connectivity in general when one is using a connection so far from the main density of population. Happy travels and let us know if you think we can help you enjoy getting online through wireless internet while in your RV.
Billy Freeman