nstevey

I use the free Starbucks wifi all the time in many different stores and it does work. However, there are outages. I run into an outage once or twice a month, always during business hours. And it seems the free accounts is lowest on the totem pole because it seems like the network is okay, but whatever is associated with the free accounts is broken.

Kal

All I know is with too much Peets or Starbucks I am wired all day!\/\/\/\/

yk

Kal - We'll be staying at the Westin St Francis in May (via Priceline). I would be interested to hear your report on the hotel... am I correct to assume you got it via PL too? I read reviews on tripadvisor that PL customers are all given tiny old rooms. I guess beggars can't be choosers.

111op

Hi, I'm connected through Westin's internet access.

I can see "UnionSquareWireless" on my wireless manager, but I can't seem to connect to it. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my battery so I can't take the laptop out. But maybe I'll walk by Union Square to see if there are sockets I can plug in.

Westin must have mentioned PL about ten times when I checked in, but the room is fine. The front desk agent was very friendly.

yk

Not a tiny, dusty room that others have complained about on TA? how much is the Westin internet service?

111op

Well when she gave me my key card, she said "I think you'll like this one -- it has an external view." I kept to myself, "Yippee, Union Square."

Not!

Not the best view, but it's not bad. The closet has a strange smell but you can't complain for this price.

Internet service is 14.95 (supposedly including all taxes and fees, though that's not what the T&C says -- I called the front desk to ask about it). I may not want to get online again through the hotel. I'll see how I feel.

111op

By the way, she helped me sign on for Starwood Points also. I didn't bother because I thought PL rooms were not eligible. But she was very nice. And she gave me lots of 11% off Macy's coupons (good nationwide) and some coupons to have coffee in their lounge.

But yes, she kept telling me that my room had been prepaid on Priceline.

She was a very nice woman.

And no, the room is not next to an elevator shaft.

starrs

The room charge is not eligible for points (because it is pre-paid) but anything/ everything you charge to the room is.
So, you'd earn points on the internet access charge
(plus any room service, movie, parking, etc.)

111op

Wow. I'd better rack up on the minibar charges!

She was careful to remind me not to move anything in the minibar because it's all sensor based. Touch anything and you're charged.

(Meaning, you cheap PL customer, if you want to put water in the fridge, let us know and we'll send you a mini fridge.)

Andrew

I'm a frequent Starbucks customer and often spend a few hours a day several days a week at a Starbucks with my laptop. I've found that the restrictions are liberal - that is, I've often gone over the 2 hrs/day limit. Also, I don't always have much loaded on my Starbucks card. For the last few weeks it's been ZERO and it still works. So, I'd say, put $5 on a Starbucks card, then buy something with it, then register the card at Starbucks.com and use it and see how many weeks you can get out of it. I'll bet you'll get a whole lot of use out of it.

Kal

yk,
We've stayed at St Franics maybe twice thru Pline and both times we got a room in the older section but they were very nice. Reminded me of the rooms at The Palmer House Hilton in Chicago. Old fashioned tile floors, nice wood dressers...

Plus, while a ton o' people were waiting for the elevators to go to the newer rooms, we just hopped on our elevator and was in our room a few mins later.

I think we overlooked a little courtryard type area. Good room for sleeping in!

I've found that if you are really nice at check in and schmooze up the clerk a bit, you won't have a prob. <knock wood>

yk

Thanks Kal. I know beggars can't be choosers!

I do have a Starwood card, so I'll try emailing the hotel a week before with my Starwood # and to politely request a King room if possible. One issue we have is that we won't arrive at the hotel until 10 or 11pm on our first day, so I hope we won't be stuck in a closet twin room for the next 4 nights!

nstevey

At Starbucks, I usually get cut off right at 2 hours. Anyone use Boingo, where you get unlimited access for $10/month, cancel anytime? For $5/month more and unlimited service, if you can cancel anytime, might be worth it for me, an information economy worker.

Andrew

That's funny, I've never been cut off at 2 hours at Starbucks (if I did, I still have T-Mobile hotspot which I could use but don't need to - I'm going to get rid of it soon). Maybe it's just me...

nstevey

No warning either. Happened to me many times. Connection just disappears. If you're in the middle of something important, like something transactional, you lose your work. They should at least popup a warning window.

It makes sense, because NYC Starbucks are very crowded - they probably want to rotate people out as much as possible.
Seats are hard to come by, especially ones near outlets.

Also, the network or something in NYC goes down frequently.

It's still a great deal, just not that reliable. You get what you pay for. I'm different than most people because I need more than the 2 hour allotment. Versus paying for wireless broadband, Starbucks is much more affordable.

Kal

yk...no beggin' about it. Most the savvy hotel help know if a room isn't used, it's lost $$$$ for the Co.

I usually start with "I know I bought this on Pline but...." then bat my eyelashes....

Good for Strabucks! Nothing worse than walking into a coffee shop and one person takes up a whole table with the laptop then gives you attitude if you ask to share the table.
Well...wait...I guess there are things worse but this just ticks me off.

starrs

yk, if you were coming in that late for just one night you'd probably end up with a suite. That's happened to me several times. The BEST suite was at the Hyatt in SF.

I've never been given a sub-par room using a PL reservation. The big conference hotels just have so many rooms, I guess.

111op

I am using the hotel's net access again. I figured out where to plug in my computer on Union Square (there are hidden outlets next to trees facing north). And I could detect the same wifi connections, but I couldn't do any browsing after connecting. And there's also a connection called "PUBLIC" that requires a charge of $6 a day or something like that.

I had the same problem with Metreon.

I was able to connect temporarily at the mall across from the Metreon on Mission.

Not sure if it's my wifi manager or that the connections are not stable. Time Out SF claims that Union Square does offer wifi also.

I don't know whether it's