I must say, the wifi at the Washington Convention Center is *fabulous*. It’s free, strong, and available just about anywhere. If you’re here at the conference, look for “ALA2007″ in your list of available wireless networks.
Free wifi is also available at all of the District of Columbia Public Library branches.
So you may notice that the blog has been conspicuously empty today. That’s because all of us here at the conference thought the server was down because we couldn’t access it. Turns out, it seems like the conference center firewall is blocking all sorts of LISHost stuff (I’m using hotel wifi at the Westin Seattle)”, which is decidedly not good. I’ll inquire about it with ALA staff tomorrow, but in the meantime, we apologize for the “radio silence,” and will return you to your regularly-scheduled crazy conference readings until it’s all better again.
You know you’re in Boston when these are the names of the available wireless networks in your hotel room.
When I checked into the press office this morning, I asked about the status of wifi for the conference. Turns out that the press office informed me that wifi should be freely available throughout the conference center.
I thought, “Finally, an ALA conference that *gets* it.”
Wandering back downstairs from the press office, I bumped into a Laptop Lounge, which actually tells you the wifi is free, and what network to connect to. The only thing missing is instructions on how to connect to a wireless connection, if you’ve never done so before. Click on the mini-screenshot on your left to see what a Windows XP wireless connections list should look like.
ALA has done the smart and sensible thing this year by offering wifi access for the duration of the conference (Thursday through Wednesday) in the conference center at a flat rate of $25. You must pay cash or (I think) check, and it’s available by visiting the ALA Office on the upper floor of the Gonzalez Conference Center. It’s quite the bargain when the regular price is $25 per day.
The one thing that the handy login handout doesn’t tell you is the SSID (network name), which is Instant Internet. There is another network called AMS FREE WIRELESS that got my hopes up (as possibly being *free* wifi) by acquiring a network address and connecting and everything, but then not really going anywhere.
I asked the woman behind the desk if many people had signed up for the wifi service, and with wide eyes she said, “Yes.” Hopefully ALA will continue to offer wifi breaks like this in the future. It’s definitely a real recognition of the fact that more librarians attending conferences with their wifi-enabled laptops in tow. ALA, I applaud you!
Bad Behavior has blocked 2253 access attempts in the last 7 days.
