The Alexander Hotel Internet Theorem

My friend and hero Bryan Alexander of NITLE has a theory that says, basically, the nicer the hotel you stay at, the worse the internet experience is, both in terms of connectivity options and price. I’ve stayed at a couple of lesser chains and their internet access has been great.

I was bummed to see that internet access at the EduWeb hotel is $12.95 a day. It looks like there will be a connection in the session areas, but at the end of a long day of sessions and networking, it’s nice to come back and veg out for awhile, but I don’t think I’ll (or my instution) will pay $40 for me to surf the web and watch YouTube. If you are paying, enjoy the fast speeds. I remember the terrible internet speeds at HighEdWebTech in November when we all tried to get on that system.

But this morning, there’s a sliver of hope. AT&T has announced free Wi-Fi access to iPhone customers in their network of over 17,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, including Starbucks. One of the other locations listed is the Trump Marina hotel, site of this year’s EduWeb 2008 conference.

I tried to confirm this with AT&T, but I got a clueless rep on the phone. If you go by the website says, you should be able to get on the network with your iPhone.

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Comments

3 Responses to “The Alexander Hotel Internet Theorem”

  1. Bradjward on July 18th, 2008 10:58 am

    I’ll just charge it to my room……….
    ……after I figure out where I’m sleeping. :)

    Hoping this 18,000 hotspot thing starts up soon. Saw it on TUAW as well. Maybe by Monday?

  2. Bryan Alexander on July 19th, 2008 11:26 am

    Fame is mine. :)

    Just found this in two more hotels, during the past week. I tend to rely on my Sprint PCS card, now. It’s so worth it, given how much I travel, and the sorry state of American connectivity.

  3. Alexander Hotel Internet Theorem Proved Wrong? | HighEdWebTech on September 11th, 2008 10:24 pm

    [...] in July, I blogged about the Alexander Hotel Internet Theorem. In it, my hero Bryan Alexander posits that the nicer the hotel, the worse the internet experience [...]

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