Recently my parents decided to give up broadband in our home. Therefore someone like me who is truly a web 2.0 addict went into shock and maybe a few bouts hyperventilation at the thought of not being able to connect in the comfort of my own home. I eventually had to come to terms with the fact that in order to get back online I would have to get back outside into the real world and search out the elusive wireless internet that could give me the fix I needed to feed my addiction. So armed with my iPod and my fully charged MacBook laptop I hit the streets of my local town to see if it really was that easy to get back on the internet surf board.
My first stop was “nosh + coffee”; a quite nice coffee place that’s always good for a hot chocolate and a nice bagel. Tacked all over the mod café were wi-fi hotspot posters promising me what I needed. I asked at the counter and I was offered a card with a free 20 minutes of internet goodness. First I had to create an account with this network and type in a password printed on the card. It all seemed very simple and professional so I was hoping for the best. Unfortunately the simple instructions did not run as smooth as I first thought. I didn’t have any problem connecting to the network on the card, but the web site that you create an account on was not automatically your landing page when you open your browser (as promised on the card). The web site also wasn’t even printed on the card, I mean c’mon, it’s the most important piece of information and it was just left out. Sorry nosh + coffee, you’re good for satisfactory bagels but nothing else.
Next up is Gloria Jeans, located above the local bookshop. It’s quite a nice setting similar to that of nosh + coffee, being a fashionable modern café where today’s elite go to drink coffee. First thing I asked was if there was wireless here as it wasn’t as publicised as in the previous coffee shop. I was told that there was, and was handed a pamphlet about the wireless service offered there. It was very detailed in describing how to get online in there. Unfortunately it all couldn’t be that easy now could it? You had to have a paid subscription or else buy a wireless hotspot card “from this location”, yet “this location” did not have any cards to offer me. Gloria Jeans offered so much promise, yet it fell though at the last hurdle. My head was buzzing from the white caramel oreo bash coffee but it was growing frustrated at all the difficulty I was having. Next!
I had almost given up hope after all my sandwich and coffee shop hopping to see if anyone could help me out and get me back online! So in a last ditch effort to get online I just opened my wireless internet connections and tried them all in hopes that one worked. Somebody was smiling on me because I managed to find an amazing fast network that worked for free. I couldn’t have been more surprised and thrilled at the same time. After all of that, I could have had it free and easy from the beginning. So my advice is before you go asking at the counter, try searching around from a comfy spot and most likely there will be some great network that you can take advantage of. I don’t know who has to pay for them and who’s putting them out there but I’m sure myself and fellow poor people lacking in internetz thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
