When Wi-Fi is Annoying

Yesterday, I grabbed a late lunch at the IDS Tower Potbellys. Wanting to tweak a couple things on this site, I opened up my Apple PowerBook and hoping for a wireless network.

And yes, there was one….

Host by the Marquette Hotel, behind a Guest-Tek gateway requiring a name and room number to get access.

Four years ago, I worked at a start-up developing similar system and we quickly discovered that Wi-Fi inherently doesn’t like to be bound by these constraints. For example, from a Marquette guest perspective, it might be nice that I can access the Marquette network all the way down to the Potbellys - but from a Potbellys’ customer perspective - it’s annoying. I’d recommend Marquette put a password on their network so non-guests have a lower chance of seeing their network.

Elsewhere downtown, the Chiptole on Nicollet has a pay-per-use system like the Starbucks/T-Mobile and Caribou/SBC systems. There I have the choice of paying the $7/30minutes or walking across the street and paying $2 for a coffee & access at the Dunn Bros.