Wifi access in Portugal - Vodawho?
I've been in Portugal for the last week or so and have had some trials and tribulations getting connected. As I don't want to carry my laptop around with me on the offchance that I hit a Wifi network, I have been looking for places that advertise Wifi connectivity. Nada!
Eventually the hotel I signed into in Sesimbra had some brochures for Vodafone WLAN at reception. Yes, they said, you can browse in reception and in the public bar. Not the rooms? No?!
Anyway, I dutifully sent my SMS which was supposed to be charged at 20 euro for one whole days access (24 hrs?!). The return SMS came back with my userid and password and I eagerly opened up the laptop and selected the Vodafone wifi connection.
'Acquiring Network address....', hmmm
Did I have it configured for fixed IP address? No, nothing. Ok, seems to be a slight problem. I went to reception where it became clear that they had had no training, no access and no tools to assist customers. They volunteered they now hopelessly late information that 'many customers had had problems with the connection'.
Could they phone to Vodafone and check out what the problem was? OK, reluctantly they phoned. No answer.
No willingness to retry. Finally I was forced to make the call on my UK mobile (roaming) at God knows what cost. I go t through to an engineer who attempted to determine if I was a computer idiot. I told them their DHCP wasn't working!
After several minutes of holding they agreed that it wasn't my problem and their network was screwed.
Ok, that's the bad news, the good news was that they phoned me the following day and said they were going to refund my 20 euros. We shall see.
Interestingly, in several other places on my trip I have accessed wifi networks from small WISPs. Bangkok, Vienna, Denmark, UK. In all cases, it worked with no problems.
Why is it that something as simple as Wifi is so difficult for a company the size of Vodafone to deliver??
My guess is that they overcomplicate it. In the case of access, the old adage (slightly modified) is highly appropriate - Keep it simple and stupid!
2 Comments:
Dear Paul
Your experiences are proof of yet another triumph of marketing hype over substance (as with everything promoted about Portugal's alleged technical progress in the 21st century).
The main obstacle to this progress appears to be the bureaucratic nightmare of competing against the complex monopolies operated by national telecommunications providers.
Within the technical community, a common perception is the apparent covert support for these monopolies by national governments in concert with their "regulators".
Within the South-Western area of the EU, yet again a national telecommunications provider appears to have adopted the classic business model adopted by other telecom monopolies (perhaps Br**sh Telecom, maybe Tel*f*n*ca? you may think that, but it would be inappropriate to comment).
"Use regulatory instruments that can be placed as obstacles in the path of competitors, thereby enhancing your dominant business position".
The EU Commissioners should spend as much time and effort on dealing with issues of telecommunications provider dominance as they do in bringing a certain Seattle-based corporation to heel.
Kind regards
Bill Richards
Bill, you are wrong. The problem is just the end of monopoles like Telefonica. The competence not exist; they are a oligopol between operators
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