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I read somewhere (HN, maybe?) that the high-end hotels were the first to adopt, before the market for these things was well fleshed out, and often ended up in a

I read somewhere (HN, maybe?) that the high-end hotels were the first to adopt, before the market for these things was well fleshed out, and often ended up in absurd, long-term contracts with 3rd party services/providers. That, combined with the fact that, yes, businessfolk will just expense it, leads to the current situation.

gonzo 12y ago
I was the founding CTO and VP of Engineering at Wayport (now AT&T WiFi Services.) The answer is really, "because they are rapacious".
stevenjohns 12y ago
You're more or less right. I used to work for a fairly large hotel chain that would charge ridiculous amounts for internet. Thinking back it wasn't too ridiculous (certainly not 10k for 3 days as someone said above) but it was still a high price. The only people to really use the service were business people, and they'd always charge it back to their companies. The WiFi itself was merely a luxury we offered to encourage business people to stay in the properties because "WiFi available" made for better advertisements.
- ubernostrum 12y ago
  The "10k for 3 days" is not the type of charge for a guest using wifi in a room. It's the type of charge for a large event using wifi in the hotel's convention/conference center. And that number is not so far off what a lot of places charge for such things.
  - stevenjohns 12y ago
    Even with multi-day conferences, we never charged rates that high. That is still charging about ~$7.40/person/day for a 450 person conference.
    - ubernostrum 12y ago
      I regularly help run events which have 500-ish people on the extreme low end, and 1000-1500+ and sometimes even larger on the high end. The quoted rates do not sound that far off from what I've seen. Heck, I know one convention center that charges $1500 just to hang a small banner over the door of the ballroom with your event's logo on it.

gonzo 12y ago

I was the founding CTO and VP of Engineering at Wayport (now AT&T WiFi Services.) The answer is really, "because they are rapacious".

stevenjohns 12y ago

You're more or less right. I used to work for a fairly large hotel chain that would charge ridiculous amounts for internet. Thinking back it wasn't too ridiculous (certainly not 10k for 3 days as someone said above) but it was still a high price. The only people to really use the service were business people, and they'd always charge it back to their companies. The WiFi itself was merely a luxury we offered to encourage business people to stay in the properties because "WiFi available" made for better advertisements.

ubernostrum 12y ago
The "10k for 3 days" is not the type of charge for a guest using wifi in a room. It's the type of charge for a large event using wifi in the hotel's convention/conference center. And that number is not so far off what a lot of places charge for such things.
- stevenjohns 12y ago
  Even with multi-day conferences, we never charged rates that high. That is still charging about ~$7.40/person/day for a 450 person conference.
  - ubernostrum 12y ago
    I regularly help run events which have 500-ish people on the extreme low end, and 1000-1500+ and sometimes even larger on the high end. The quoted rates do not sound that far off from what I've seen. Heck, I know one convention center that charges $1500 just to hang a small banner over the door of the ballroom with your event's logo on it.