Internet Access at LITA Forum
August 30th, 2005 by Michelle BouleFor those wanting to be connected during the LITA Forum in San Jose, I have the scoop on internet access. According to the Marriott employee I spoke to, internet is available two ways. You can
1. Get high speed internet in your hotel room for $9.95 a day or
2. You can get wireless internet, available in the conference area and lobby for $9.95 a day.
These two services are exclusive of each other and you do have to pay for them separately, unfortunately for us. If someone has better information, feel free to leave a comment.
August 31st, 2005 at 11:39 am
With all the presumed hackers attending, couldn’t ALA/LITA set up a repeater via WDS for conference attendees?
August 31st, 2005 at 1:41 pm
I think it’s time for LITA to not schedule events at hotels that charge outrageous rates to provide wireless connections during a meeting. By this I mean not outrageous rates to individuals, but outrageous to the organization, which I believe should be making sure wireless connectivity is simply part of the assumed conditions. I mean, if LITA can’t pull this off, what chance does the rest of ALA have?
August 31st, 2005 at 2:20 pm
I hesitated for awhile to post this information, hoping that LITA would come up with a reduced price. Alas, it was not to be. There is still time though for someone in the powers that be to work their magic (I hope). Anyone?
September 8th, 2005 at 2:10 pm
To modify Roy’s comments slightly, I’d say we’re now on the cusp of being able to exclude hotels that don’t have fair pricing for reasonable connectivity. Since the Forum sites get picked a couple years in advance, they’ve usually been unable to say what they would or could offer by the time the Forum rolled around, and we’ve tended to cut them slack.
Also, [non-free] connectivity costs for Forum-wide use means making non-connected attendees subsidize the connection. Until recently, this was a sufficiently large percentage that Forum planners didn’t want to do that.
IMO, both of these have become non-issues and LITA should insist on Forum-wide connectivity. Now, point of order: does the Board have insist on this and give the office permission to turn down hotels that are otherwise acceptable but won’t play nice about wireless?
September 30th, 2005 at 6:44 pm
According to Mary Taylor of LITA, you can get access in your room and then ask at the registration desk for a code that give you wireless access in the meeting rooms. Apparently our squeaky wheels got some grease.
March 15th, 2006 at 7:49 pm
I’d say we’re now on the cusp of being able to exclude hotels that don’t have fair pricing for reasonable connectivity. Since the Forum sites get picked a couple years in advance