Poor Service Troubles Wi-Fi Hotspots
Posted: 02nd Sep, 2003 By: MarkJ
New research has found that many commercial UK Wi-Fi (broadband wireless LAN) hotspots, such as those by BTOpenzone and Starbucks, suffer due to a lack of trained staff to help users get connected:
Coffee chain Starbucks is at the forefront of the drive to roll out Wi-Fi hot spots in Britain. However, its official policy is that when the network appears to be down, users should call T-Mobile (which operates Starbucks' Wi-Fi network) to try to discover when it might be back.
"Sometimes it's up and sometimes it's down. We're only the host company, we can't help at all," explained a staff member when asked why there was a distinct lack of Wi-Fi on the premises, despite an advert on the front door.
Anyone asking about the BT Openzone Wi-Fi network at the Tower Thistle hotel in London is likely to be met by blank faces, and pointed towards the queue at the check-in desk.
It's hard to see how Wi-Fi hotspots can ever truly take off if those running the networks don't take it seriously enough to improve the service. Simply rolling out lots of nodes isn't enough. More @ ZDNet.
Coffee chain Starbucks is at the forefront of the drive to roll out Wi-Fi hot spots in Britain. However, its official policy is that when the network appears to be down, users should call T-Mobile (which operates Starbucks' Wi-Fi network) to try to discover when it might be back.
"Sometimes it's up and sometimes it's down. We're only the host company, we can't help at all," explained a staff member when asked why there was a distinct lack of Wi-Fi on the premises, despite an advert on the front door.
Anyone asking about the BT Openzone Wi-Fi network at the Tower Thistle hotel in London is likely to be met by blank faces, and pointed towards the queue at the check-in desk.
It's hard to see how Wi-Fi hotspots can ever truly take off if those running the networks don't take it seriously enough to improve the service. Simply rolling out lots of nodes isn't enough. More @ ZDNet.
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