Saturday Sep 22, 2007
Saturday Sep 22, 2007
4 airports in 6 days. 4 completely different laptop user experiences. Manchester NH wins my vote for most user friendly airport. O'Hare comes last.
What makes Manchester my favourite? Two simple things.
1)
Free wireless
2) Electrical outlets
Charging users for webtone strikes me as a new form highway robbery, whether access is charged by the hour & minute or by the month. But not even providing electrical outlets... THAT is just down right CRUEL.
Sitting in Dulles in Washington DC, there are some electrical outlets around. Not many, but some. But the wireless is not free.
So, from this business traveller, full marks to the Manchester airport in "Live Free or Die" New Hampshire!
Amen to that. Charging for webtone will become a thing of the past, but not before they soak us for some more chump change. But no power outlets makes things more difficult. One reason I keep memberships in airline clubs associated with each of major US alliances (oneWorld, skyTeam, and Star Alliance) is access to power, not to mention a more civilized place to work than the concourse. Having said that, even some airline clubs have hard-to-locate power outlets.
On the other hand, someone has to pay for all that power. Probably the airlines, the landing fees charged in some places are quite high.
Posted by Terry Gardner on September 22, 2007 at 04:54 PM EDT #
I keep meaning to cancel my expensive T-Mobile WiFi account, but every time I go into Starbucks I fire up my laptop or iPhone.... However both Tully's and Zeitgeist offer free WiFi near here, so perhaps I should Just Do It.
Of course Manchester is useless for me, even when I fly back to Massachusetts.
Posted by Geoff Arnold on September 22, 2007 at 08:05 PM EDT #
Bunch of us started a wiki documenting free access points. If you want to share your experience you and anyone else are welcome to join us at http://wikis.sun.com/display/FreeWiFi
Posted by Igor Minar on September 24, 2007 at 01:58 AM EDT #
I'm flying out of Boston for my upcoming trip to Broomfield, but I'll have to check out Manchester -- might be a difficult sell if it costs more and I can't fly direct. I'm not sure an hour or so of connectivity is worth risking a missed connection or lost luggage.
Posted by Mark J Musante on September 24, 2007 at 09:21 AM EDT #