Sometimes I really want to use the F-word

I am having a blast in Trieste - FEST is fantastic, people friendly, program interesting, the smell of Adriatic evokes nostalgia (I learned to swim in the northern Adriatic), but I am really pissed with the Jolly Hotel I am in. Room is fine. But they charge wifi at exorbitant prices.

About a year ago, there was an outrage in the USA about hotels not providing internet access. But then, market forces kicked in as all the high-powered travellers started choosing those hotels that do provide free access. This forced most other hotels to do the same. Some still charge - but those charges are relatively reasonable - 5 or 10 dollars per day and the service you get is excellent.

Not here.

I am paying 50 euro for 5.5 hours. And the access is so shitty I cannot open up Google or Gmail most of the time, PLoS mail occasionally, the scienceblogs back-forums sometimes. I can see my blog and the Sb homepage (and other sciblings' blog) but it is maddeningly slow. I cannot open Blogspot blogs almost ever, sitemer opens, MT opens fine, Facebook sometimes. This shitty service is provided by HiPort and the worst thing is that it is so bad I sometimes cannot access their own homepage in order to logout, so my gold-plated minutes keep ticking even when I am not doing anything productive (or at least trying to).

What a highway robbery!

More like this

Just arrived in Trieste. It's 1am here so I am about to go to sleep. The hotel is nice, but it charges exorbitant amounts of money for Internet access (50 euro for 5.5 hours)!!!! I complained at the desk - the guy smugly replied "Free market". I said that in the USA free market is driving…
It's rare for me to be gone so much in such a short period of time. Two meetings in two weeks, one in San Diego and one in Washington, DC, and I'm bushed. One thing that continually irks me on the two or three occasions each year when I go to meetings is how blatantly hotels rip customers off for…
Why Rage? Because Henry inspired me (though Mrs.Gee made him edit out the 'excessive' language). Why 2.0? Because I am all gung-ho about everything 2.0. So there! So, like Henry, I will now proceed to rage about something.... Hotels I've been traveling a lot lately, often staying in some very top…
You may have noticed very sparse blogging last couple of days - just the pre-scheduled Clock Quotes... Well, I have some laptop problems (Dell PC with WinXP, only FF as browser). The first inklings of problems showed up right after the AAAS meeting last month. I have been dutifully cleaning with…

I was brought up around handicapped people and have no problem effing like a docker with an embarassing itch. I will swear round the clock for you if that helps. Still, you're in Italy. Envy envy.

I feel your pain. My boss once emailed me page proofs for a manuscript (in a PDF) when I was visiting my parents in Asian Country. My parents had dial-up, for god's sake! I came very close to smashing their computer trying to download the file.

Welcome to Italy's internet services ;)

They are renown throughout the country for their..."suckiness".

By steppen wolf (not verified) on 18 Apr 2008 #permalink