PDX trumps Silicon Valley…
…when it comes to providing ubiquitous, inexpensive (or free) Internet access for travelers. At least that’s the conclusion I’m coming to (after admittedly anything but comprehensive research, I admit.)
I’m sitting here at the San Jose airport, way early for a flight back to Portland. And I can tap into the airport’s wireless network - but only if I cough up 7 bucks for a day pass (obviously, I sprung for it.)
The hotel I was staying at also had sporadic wireless access in public rooms - but again, you had to pay for it. Wired access in your own hotel room? Came for an extra 10 bucks a day, and I ran into problems trying to send work email over their proprietary network (I could receive mail, just couldn’t send.)
Luckily, I was at a technology conference where we overcame the wireless issues by setting up our own server - but it got kind of tiring running downstairs to our own small wireless bubble every time I wanted to send work email - while I’m in the heart of Silicon Valley, no less.
And I thought longingly of Portland’s own burgeoning technology infrastructure, from free WiFi spots all over the metro area to the free WiFi access at PDX and the proposed WiFi cloud to cover downtown Portland.
If PDX hotels are smart, they’ll figure out how to tap into the WiFi cloud, and look at building Internet access costs into their overall room rate structure (instead of nickel and diming individual hotel guests with daily fees or per-minute transaction charges. Yep, the hotel I was in offered per-minute wireless in public areas…!) And if POVA’s thinking ahead, they’ll then promote our seamless technology solutions to technology conference organizers, for starters.
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Man!
I stayed at the Red Lion in Pendleton and even they had free wi-fi! With a little brochure and everything to tell me what to do. Very nice, really.
I can’t believe SAN JOSE can’t figure it out. Wow.
On the issue of e-mail: normally when you can receive, but not send, e-mail it is because the provider is blocking outgoing connections to port 25/smtp to prevent abuse (such as spamming from a hotspot).
The recommended workaround is to send mail via port 587/submission. See if your company supports this. The technical explanation is that port 587 works just like port 25 but is only set up to allow authorized users to send mail, thus can’t be used for e-mail deliveries and is useless to spammers. For this reason hotspots don’t need to block it.
Silicon Valley is bigger than just San Jose. You should be really comparing your wifi exeperience to San Francisco. Its density is more like Portlands. However, while SF is only 47 square miles, Portland (134) is much more similar to San Jose (175). In SF, as I am sure in PDX, you can go to almost any coffee shop. Also, I saw a sticker on a SF MUNI bus stating it had WIFI. I haven’t really looked into it. As for the airports, I am pretty sure that WIFI is pay as you go. Its too bad because I think it is more about putting business needs ahead of the public good. I grew up in San Jose and its changed a lot. It used to be orchards and farmland. sigh… Anyways, kudos to PDX for the work your city is doing. I think SF has a WIFI plan in the works so maybe you should just hang there. :D