For WWDC, I’ve been staying at the InterContinental Hotel in San Francisco as it is close to Moscone West where the conference is being held. While the conference has WiFi throughout, having access in my hotel room is needed so that I can keep up with work before and after each conference day. Unfortunately with the hotel filled with geeks, the Internet connection goes from bad to worse at times. I’ve managed to sort of carry on a video chat with my wife twice, but that was when no one was around. The hotel apparently charges $60 for the week (the front desk said it was complimentary when I checked in) which is more than the full monthly bill for my home cable modem connection. My experience isn’t unique; my co-workers in the W hotel down the street have been experiencing the same problems. As compensation for the poor experience (after tweeting about it), one co-worker received a cheese plate. Personally I’d rather have a working connection than a cheese plate!
I can understand that WWDC occurs just once a year and the hotel has no interest in paying for excess bandwidth the entire year for the one week there are a bunch of geeks in the hotel. While the room has been fine, the quality of the Internet connection may be the deciding factor for people choosing a hotel.
I feel quite frustrated trying to do work with the slow access which is causing me basically to do nothing; it’s a good thing that I’m at a slow point in my project.
