News

IBC - no wireless access. But it's not incompetence after all. It's greed.

Your roving network sniffer was dismayed to be told, on arrival at the International Broadcasting Convention, that there was no wireless signal for his Centrino laptop computer.

Enquiry at the friendly Press Centre (Hall 8) elicited the following wisdom: "There is a wireless system, but we're not providing it. You have to go to the Business Centre, and sign up."

The business centre, it turns out, is the opposite corner of the (not tiny) RAI exhibition and conference village here in Amsterdam, so your network sniffer set off, somewhat gruffly, to find out how to get online.

A ten minute walk later he found a queue of people to get into one of the (still closed) exhibition halls. Inside, an information booth had another queue of people. They said the business centre was just next door, but all that could be found was the "exhibitor services" centre, who professed (after a 12-person queue expired) no knowledge.

Then we found it. "Wireless Internet access here" with instructions on how to log on and pay. Yes, pay; and through the nose: and this gives the bad news. You have to log on to GBIA, and they want twenty euros for the day.

Heck, needs must, and it's only fifteen quid, really: the Sniffer Visa card came out, and the deed was done.

Off we went to the conference hall: no signal!

A phone to tech support at GBIA.

"No, there's no coverage in any of the halls at RAI. RAI didn't want it."

Didn't want it! Why not?

"Because they have their own wired network in the halls, and they want to sell access to the exhibitors!"

The hotspots are the little blue numbers on the map. Most of them appear not to be functioning, either.

How did I get online? By pulling the wire out of the back of a non-functioning PC in the Press Office, and sticking it into my ThinkPad.

Twenty Euros down the pan, and does RAI or IBC care a damn?