Quest for bandwidth

[avram]

I think I wrong about that server fuckage last night; my dialup connection’s been slow (and I’m talking slow even for dialup, like a flashback to the days of 300 baud or worse) since late yesterday. Having read all sorts of articles in the techie press about how wireless Ethernet and casual security are turning Manhattan into a giant buffet table of open WiFi nodes, I did what any net-starved geek with a WiFi-capable laptop would do, and went off looking for some free access to mooch off of.

Open WiFi nodes are probably much easier prey in the warm weather; Bryant Park is a well-known access point, but who the hell wants to sit outdoors in a northeast winter? Besides, I had thing to do in the Union Square area. Surely the upper end of Silicon Alley would be thick with access, right?

Wrong. Here’s a short list of warm, drink-serving, bathroom-having places that would probably do a lot more business if they (or one of their neighbors) had an open WiFi node:

• Java & Jazz, on Broadway between 17th and 18th Sts.
• The café of the Barnes & Noble on Union Square
• City Bakery on W. 18th, near Fifth Ave.
• Revival bar, on E. 15th, near Irving Pl.

Yet another reason to get my ass moved over to the new, broadband-having apartment.

(Later: OK, not sucking quite so much now, I think.)

Comments

Chris has been pokey too.

[(Anonymous)]

My connection has had bottlenecks here and there since yesterday afternoon.

AND YOUR GETTING A BROADBAND CONNECTION DOES ME NO GOOD AT ALL!!!

But I'm not bitter...

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

I thought just about every St*rb*cks had open broadband. I know, Seattle's OTHER evil empire, but still.

[avram]

Last I looked, a few Starbuckses had proprietary, for-pay, doesn't-work-for-Macs WiFi.

Re:

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

Figures. Hah!

nyc wireless

[(Anonymous)]

would this site help?

http://www.nodedb.com/unitedstates/ny/newyork/?

http://www.nycwireless.net/

I was looking for that map of manhattan that was bright red with nodes but didn't find it.

Anita Rowland (http://www.anitarowland.com/)

Re: nyc wireless

[avram]

I looked through those last night. It helps in that it confirms my conclusion that open nodes aren't nearly as common as I've read. (Though I'm sure there are probably some nodes that aren't in the database.)

Re: nyc wireless

[(Anonymous)]

ah, that red-dot map did turn up this morning:
http://publicinternetproject.org/research/research_sum.html

a five-foot-tall version is a hundred bucks!
http://publicinternetproject.org/purchase/pip_purchase.html

Anita Rowland (http://www.anitarowland.com/)