[Leica] OT Wifi and Apple Computers in Germany

[cummer at netvigator.com (Howard Cummer)]

Talking about Wifi access and its cost, in my recent travels in  
Europe (Austria and Germany), my Apple Powerbook 4 worked fine in  
Austria, detecting Wifi Nets and allowing me access, but in Germany  
there was NO way to connect. In Munich the Wifi signal was recognized  
at the hotel and I could read emails but it wasn't possible to put in  
the code (provided by the hotel) for access to reply to emails.  
Finally the hotel keeper's son lent me his PC laptop so I could reply  
to some messages that needed answers but his comment was that Macs  
didn't work well with Wifi and left it at that. In Cologne an IT guy  
in the bar at the Bonn Beuel hotel did manage to get my powerbook to  
work by giving me a German email address related to his web server. I  
paid him for his trouble in beers. In Wetzlar at the Wetzlarer Hof I  
had the same problem - the Wifi signal could be recognized by the  
computer - but in this case no access could be gained at all. When I  
asked to use the hotel computer I was told that it was not the  
responsibility of the hotel to provide internet access if I used a  
computer that didn't work on their Wifi! Anyway eventually I did  
manage to get access and read and replied to emails but that incident  
was the one bad experience in my stay in Germany. I think Windows is  
to be congratulated for shutting Apple out of the German Wifi market  
and I wonder what is the (falling) share of the laptop market that  
Apple has in Germany if most Mac users have experiences like mine.
Cheers
Howard (in Hong Kong)


On 16 Oct 2006, at 4:33 PM, lug-request@leica-users.org wrote:

> Message: 27
> Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2006 07:01:14 +0200
> From: Nathan Wajsman <nathan@nathanfoto.com>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] london
> To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
> Message-ID: <4533121A.10200@nathanfoto.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> Well, they have to do something to replace the lost revenue from the
> phones. I once (early 90s) worked in the AT&T business unit that dealt
> with hotels. Back then, for many lower-priced hotels and motels, the
> revenue from the in-room telephones was a very significant source of
> profit. This has dried up now that everyone has their mobile phone. So
> wifi is the next best thing.
>
> At the Holiday Inn Express in London I paid 5 pounds for 2 hours of
> access (which did not need to be used in one go). More expensive than
> using an internet cafe for sure, but well worth the convenience of  
> using
> my own computer.
>
> Nathan