Get EVDO, and stop being taken
I was having a fascinating chat with my traveling buddy, Walt, yesterday. We were sitting in the restaurant of the Hilton North Greenpoint in Houston, and he asked me how the internet access in the hotel was working out.
T (Me): Well, the speed’s fine.
W (Walt): Is the wireless pretty good?
T: I suppose. It transmits data, if that’s what you mean.
W: No, I’m just wondering if it’s any better than what I went through to use on of their desktops in the “business center.”
T: I’d guess that using my MacBook is better than using a PC in any room, on any internet connection. /me grins.
W: Yah, especially at $1.50/minute.
…and this is where the rant begins. $1.50/minute? I was already paying [correction: the company was paying] $10.77/day for a connection, wireless or wired, on each device that needed one. In my case, that was three - MacBook, Dell laptop for work, and the iPhone…which made for a grand total of $64.62 in internet charges for two days. [Note: this is about $5 more than what I pay for my Sprint EVDO card/month]
Given the financial implications of Walt’s business center usage, my two day access bill would have entitled me to approximately 43 minutes of usage on the super PCs in the business center. So let me make the case, because I’m sure it exists.
Point: These PCs are available for business-type people who need internet access in short spurts.
Response: Business-type people, eh? You mean the ones lugging around laptops, Blackberries and EVDO cards?
Point: Alot of guests don’t want to travel with a laptop, or don’t have Blackberries, so we offer a convenient alternative to an internet cafe.
Response: You can get access in an internet cafe for about $10/hr in many places. Let’s assume that you don’t have a car, that there’s an internet cafe within 15 minutes of the hotel, and that you need to do 45 minutes of work online…just this one time. 45 minutes of usage in your business center costs $67.50. By my guess, you’d be spending ~$40 in cab fare to get to and from the internet cafe, and another ~$7.50 in online fees once you’re there. That’s a net savings of $20. Is the 30 minutes of travel time to the internet cafe worth $20 to you? [Note: for me, the hotel wins. I'd rather pay an extra $20 than have to waste half an hour in a cab...but I might be the exception here.]
Point: *These are state-of-the-art PCs, all running Windows XP with the latest security software pre-installed and configured. Surfing here is probably better and safer than on most people’s computers at home. *
Response: (Sorry, this fruit is too low-hanging. I can’t do it.)
Point: People pay it. We’ll keep edging it up until they stop.
Respones: Booyall.
Hotels (and airports) have realized that people need connections these days, and that they’re willing to pay for them. Your wallet is bleeding all over the recently-shined floors of your local Hilton, in your local airports, and in your local Starbucks. There’s only one reasonable solution: consolidate, pony up, and get a portable EVDO card from Sprint or Verizon.
Think of it this way: 5 trips to Starbucks, 5 days in a Hilton, or 40 minutes on a hotel business center computer will get you to the $60/month it costs for a high-speed connection that you can use anywhere. We’ve spent a great deal of time bitching about the costs of high-speed EVDO cards in the past, but by comparison, the wireless carriers are saints. Send a clear message to your local airports and hotels: stop by the concierge and let them know - “I’m using my own internet connection, because yours is absolutely unreasonably priced.”