Working Anywhere

Boingo Global Makes It Cheaper To Really Work Anywhere

In a move that means a price increase that save heavy road warrior money, Boingo has introduced the global nomads best possible pricing plan. $39 a month all you can surf.

As someone who has spent 60 Euros a week or more to be online in many hotels in Europe over the past year, this is a Godsend. Given I'll be in Europe starting this week I jokingly told Boingo CEO that this was perfect timing as I'll be burning up the Net from the UK and France for the next few weeks.

A quick check of the Boingo locations list showed all the hotels I'll be in having the service in Paris and Montpellier, which means the Orange network is now an all you can use deal.

With the move, the flat rate pricing means an increase of 18 dollars a month or 216 a year. That means three weeks of European use and it pays for itself for me. But what it also means is the convenience of not having to sign up and buy service every time I'm there. It also means many more locations become accessible, and mostly it provides more options in other countries to T-Mobile.

Only downside. T-Mobile's connectivity is assured and the bandwidth is always the same at all locations. Since Boingo aggregates many other operators, the experience isn't always the same.

Where To Work Anywhere-All Hotspots Are Not Created Equally

WebWorkerDaily has a nice round up post of USA based franchise and chain retail eateries and bookstores that offer WiFi, albeit for a price. But beware, all WiFi is not created equally.

For example T-Mobile, which is found in Starbucks, Barnes and Noble and Borders book shops, as well as many hotels and airline clubs, brings excessive amounts of bandwidth into their hotspots and on most occasions I'm finding speeds of 1 meg or more in both directions. On the other hand, Panera usually provides no more than 384 on the download.

Recently Bruggers Bagels added WiFi in their locations, but the speeds were a paltry 256k in both directions, but hey, it was free. Others like Cosi went with SipandSurf, but here again, the speeds are not as close as those from T-Mobile. On the other hand Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf uses AT&T which is mostly a Wayport network has rock solid speeds and their locations tend to be less crowded and offer better coffee than Starbucks. What's more you can roam using Boingo just as you can at Sip and Surf locations.

All in all, the choices for Working Anywhere are on the rise and getting better all the time.

The Third Place

This post in PSFK is a few months old, but very much a part of the Working Anywhere concept. Calling the coffee shop the "third place" of life is one thing, but as we evolve more and more into a work culture that is away from the office, being at the cafe is for many an office away from the office.

The issues at a cafe are many. Lack of enough power outlets. Music. Temperature. The cafe's and coffee shops that address those needs will win the hearts and minds of the new "Cafe Society" visitor who really does enjoy the aspect of working anywhere.

More on Marriott

Network World has a story about the "horror" Marriott's IT crew went through with the advent of demand for bandwidth inside hotels.

The story is very well positioned and contains many points that were brought up to me in a recent chat with a Marriott executive.

What this also tells me is that until recently hotel leadership in general seemed to be in the dark about what the "road warrior's needs" were or are. Since 2000 or so I have been using in room broadband and along the way had many a chat with hotel IT executives about the lack of planned capacity.

Back in 2000 the average number of users per room day was six to eight people. That meant a single T1 or a very fast DSL line was enough most of the time for users, and the biggest issue facing us was if you could use your own SMTP server to SEND email via a mail client, or if you had to change settings, neither of which was trivial or standardized.

Within a year or so, six users per night turned into six percent of the hotels guests seemed to become the average take rate. That grew in markets like Silicon Valley, SF and NY over the next year or so. Now I'm told the take rate is between 30 and 40 percent on average by the leading hotel chains, but that's misleading as hotels in SF, Silicon Valley, San Diego, New York and L.A. likely attract a far higher level of "need to really be connected" type people than hotels in Des Moines, Syracuse and Bangor. While some do, the concentration of many, many in one hotel on the same day is less likely. At some properties in the hotbed markets I would guess that the real take rate is likely over 50 percent, especially during conferences and key industry events or trade shows.

Getting current. If the past issue was SMTP server settings, the new issue in my view is "rush hour" traffic on the networks at hotels. For those of us who work in our rooms like an office on the road, we can notice the fluctuations in bandwidth and availability. If you're at a conference and the sessions break for the day, notice how your bandwidth transport slows when everyone logs on. Since there isn't an HOV lane on the hotel's network, there's no way to avoid it, but smarter hotel chains are rapidly moving to the concept of bandwidth on demand. That's great news for the folks at companies like Wayport who have a proven model for that which works. They also have a great support folks and product managers who are very much in touch with what the hotels need and the hotel want.

Bottom line. Hotels are no longer looking at broadband in rooms as simply an amenity. Many chains are seeing that they have to order as much pipe, and it has to be quality pipe too, the same way they approach the kind of food they are serving to their guests in the better grade restaurants that are starting to show up more and more in the hotels across the globe.

Marriott Has Plans

I had a brief but insightful chat with a Marriott executive this past Friday and we have agreed to a follow-up this coming week.

The hotel chain seems to understand the importance of "Working Anywhere" and is trying out all kinds of new things like those mentioned in my recent post on what Global Nomads Want.

What was rewarding to hear were the comments about things like in-room "task lighting" being set up over the bed be being installed on or in the headboard, the need for making all hotels wireless and the guidelines they are providing their hotel operators with regarding bandwidth being an "on-demand" service, not a fixed "we have just one T1" type of approach.

This is great news for the Road Warrior, but the issue remains how the individual hotel handles things. Thus the contributors to Working Anywhere will continue to write up results of stays and report to you honest, no holds barred reality in what its like to be able to be Working Anywhere.

Staybridge Suites Goes Wireless Anywhere

Hat tip to WiFi Net News on the news about Staybridge Suites going all WiFi.

While I've never had the pleasure of staying in a Staybridge property, I'm sensing that more and more top tier hotel chains are moving in this direction and beyond.

On Board Rail Service Getting Closer

It looks like railroad riders in the USA and UK will start to experience more and more WiFi service as time goes on according to WiFi Net News and the local ABC news outlet.

I'm also hearing that Verizon Wireless has expanded their coverage along the Washington D.C. to New York corridor right along the Amtrak tracks to beef up the Broadband Access EVDO service.

All of this is great news as it means that the concept of Working Anywhere and being "green" go hand in hand.

Logan Airport Fails The Test

Esme Vos is Ms. MuniWireless and her experience at Logan Airport in Boston, MA mirrors my experience. They just don't make it easy to get online.

St. Julien Hotel-Boulder, CO (HBE)

I had a wonderful hotel experience, broadband and all, at the St. Julien Hotel in Boulder, CO. It was the kind of experience that made me wish I was there for more than one night.

First the meat of the matter:

Broadband-Wired In Room and Wireless Available

Speeds: 800k in both directions at 11 PM at night/1 meg in both at 6 AM

Voice over IP: Worked Great via Gizmo Project, zero latency

Power Outlets: In great locations

Room lighting: Great for working from bed as well as desk

Grade: A

What A Global Nomad Wants In A Hotel To Work Anywhere

I admit I'm a bit more towards the side of high maintenance when it comes to what I want in a business grade hotel but as a person who is spending more days a month on the road than in my own house I've pretty much nailed down what I want and need in order to be a road warrior/global nomad beyond a very well informed front desk and a "we'll get it done right concierge."

So here's my list:

1. Real Broadband--1.5 megs or more to my room symmetrically. Anything less and its no fun.

2. Wired and Wireless in Room Access- The ability to plug my travel router in so I can use multiple devices over the Internet connection such as a WiFi phone, dual mode phone, Nokia N800 Internet Tablet or a second PC when traveling with my wife to be.

3. Power Outlets near the bed and extra power outlets in the room to charge things like cell phones, digital cameras, iPods, GPS, etc.

4. Lights Over the Bed I like to read the morning paper in bed with my morning coffee and croissant.

5. In Room Safe-that's big enough for a laptop and more. I really don't like the idea of lugging my Mac everywhere I go and hotels are notorious for where they seem to grow legs. I recently stayed in a $325 a night hotel in Santa Barbara and the in room safe was big enough for a wallet and cigars, but not a laptop. The hotel front desk refused to hold the laptop in the hotel safe or manager's office and a baggage room is about as secure as my room.

6.Relaxing and Inviting Lobbies and Bars with Outlets Honestly, getting out of the room, sipping a Martini and watching some jerk try to pick up on a hottie is still fun now that I'm getting married, but even more so, ideas and inspiration comes from stimulation. But so many bars and lobbies are cold, sterile and just no fun. Maybe that's why I love TabletHotels and Kimpton Hotel properties so much these days.

7. 24 Hour Room Service WITH a 24 hour menu--some of us can be in multiple time zones in the same day and span ten overnight. We need to keep our bodies in tune and that means eating what we need not by what the clock says.

8. A Hot Restaurant With A Killer Chef--okay so I'm a foodie and a wine lover, and a coffee/espresso and tea junkie. I like food from Artisan bakeries, locally grown produce and fruits and farm raised beef, poultry and fresh fish. But why should I have to leave the hotel?

9. Seven Day A Week Laundry-we all don't pack heavy and there are a few things we like to keep fresh and clean.

10. Early Check-In- 11 AM is fine...but come in off a red eye and having to wait until 3 is tough. I know you can reserve the extra night (and I sometimes do if its a weekday and I have an important meeting first thing) but at 250-300 a night for a room I never slept in...I'll gamble and hope they can get something for me by 11 AM.

11. A Fluffy and Warm Bathrobe--yes those of us who work in our rooms don't want to be naked all the time, nor dressed in our go to meeting clothing.

12. Flat Screen Wide Screen TV That's 23" or larger Size Matters. Watching CNN on the small screen we can do on a laptop. Besides, give me a wide screen with HD and I'll but a movie more often.

13. A Larder Hotel De Anza in San Jose lets you raid the larder throughout the day/night. So do other cool hotels. That way, if room service is more than you need, you can find a snack at anytime.

14. High Quality Bottled Water Again, our health on the road is always a challenge. Having better grades of mineral water on hand (at fair prices) keeps us going, and going.

15. Sound Proof Windows Nothing is worse than hearing the trash truck's claxon at 3 AM. As a matter of fact, why is the hotel even thinking that a 3 AM pick up even makes any sense. People stay in hotels to sleep, not to make trash.