Amtrak’s continuing record of excellence: employees apparently unable to spell either “Amtrak” or “Acela”.
I was giving serious thought to signing up for Earthlink Wifi for the Philly municipal network, but their web site, oddly enough, apparently doesn’t provide a form in which I can pay them money. So I figured I’d just grab a login screen at 30th Street this morning. Seems that 30th Street is not a sufficiently trafficked location for them to have covered it.
I already have wifi access in Philly at any Starbucks, Kinkos, Borders, and the airport. I’ve got slower access anywhere via my cell phone, which is working just fine for blogging from this here train. I’d consider spending more money to get my work done in more places, but if you’re not going to cover the train station, you’re not exactly raising confidence about your footprint elsewhere.
Is it just me, or is Earthlink just not serious about attracting my business?
Outside shot that they spelled the names wrong on purpose, to prevent folks with less user-friendly wifi access apps (read: Windows users) didn’t just guess the network names? Or is AirPort only showing you broadcasting SSID’s?
Now, why do you think the “amtrack” and “clubacealaphilly” networks are actually not evil twins/honeypots to steal your network’s soul?
EarthLink is only gradually expanding coverage, so I suspect they will be come more useful (if they do) as they spread out from the core test network.
Brian: these are broadcasting. I don’t think I’m running any software that will sniff out hidden networks. AFAIK, there isn’t any software that does that….
Glenn: I’ve seen the “amtrack” network before; I think it’s for employees. The Club Acela is new. But note 30th St. Station from satellite—any access point visible there would have to be from a station employee. Too far away from surrounding buildings (unless they’re using Pringles cans).