NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Re: Hotels running short of bandwidth for guests
At 09:48 PM 12/29/2008, Lauren Weinstein wrote: >Hotels running short of bandwidth for guests > >http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/business/30internet.html This is no surprise. Our ISP has multiple hotels as clients, and one of our selling points is the fact that we can meter and regulate bandwidth. Our authentication and encryption scheme protects travelers from ID theft and prevents "drive by bandwidth theft:" unauthorized parties driving up to the hotel, logging in, using bandwidth, and then pulling away without ever checking in. And, yes, we do prevent guests from operating servers in their rooms, because this would degrade the network. Ironically, there are some hotel chains (e.g. Ramada) which have adopted a chain-wide policy of leaving their access points open to all comers. These hotels quickly develop problems with bandwidth saturation. Other chains (e.g. the various Hilton brands) insist that every hotel get its Internet from one nationwide suppliers, cutting out local ISPs. This seems like a good idea until the user needs support and is directed to a non-English-speaking representative overseas -- or until the hotel itself needs support. As a local ISP with our own homegrown technology and local support staff, we can help with these problems -- if the hotel lets us. (We still haven't been able, for example, to help the local Hampden Inn, because it's a Hilton brand and they aren't allowed to buy our services.) --Brett Glass