I think it's interesting how many reviews on Hostelworld mention slow wifi:
http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Ahostelworld.com+%2Breviews+%2Bwifi+%2Bslow&num=100
I think it's important to have a fast, reliable wifi connection and to train staff on how to troubleshoot a slow or broken Internet connection.
15 years
goddam that irritates me. we have free wifi throughout the building - 6 routers i think. its password protected in the rooms but open access in the common areas and it never ceases to amaze me how often people complain that the internet it slow - hello, theres 20 of you in this room alone all on your laptops streaming movies! how fast do you think our connection is...? and its FREE!!!! :mad:
15 years
I wonder if it's possible to block filesharing over wifi -- or do programs like Limewire bypass those kinds of blocks? I think filesharing can slow down a connection down a lot.
At one hostel I worked at the neighbors would try to use the hostel's free wifi. We would wait until the common room was empty and then block all the MAC addresses that were still connected. That kept the neighbors off the system.
(A MAC address is an identifier that is unique to each wireless card -- block it and that wireless card can't connect again unless they're very tech savvy and know how to fake a MAC address.)
Like that one presenter said at the EHM in Dresden -- backpackers are addicted to sites like Facebook and they're going to freak out if they can't update their status :D
Has anyone tried setting up a wifi hotspot with the Zone CD?
15 years
I use opendns to block access to adult sites. You can use it to block torrents, file download sites (eg rapidshare) and even youtube if you want. You can choose pretty much anything. And because it's at the DNS level of the router there's no real way around it. It's not perfect, though it does work most of the time.
I have a slow connection here (usually 512k but sometimes higher) and find that people mostly use the terminals to check mail, update social networking, check news and watch youtube. The last is obviouosly the most bandwidth intensive, but I think often people give up on it. I haven't had too many problems with bandwidth or speed - perhaps people are just happy to find anything out in the countryside. I'd imagine that city users would be more demanding.
15 years
I use opendns to block access to adult sites. You can use it to block torrents, file download sites (eg rapidshare) and even youtube if you want. You can choose pretty much anything. And because it's at the DNS level of the router there's no real way around it. It's not perfect, though it does work most of the time.
Looks interesting:
http://www.opendns.com/
Does it cause any connection problems for legitimate users?
15 years
No, not at all, in fact their DNS servers can resolve names quicker than my ISP at times. I like it as it requires no software on the computer. There aren't a lot of options for these type of controls on Linux - I think the Open Source community believe in no censorship.
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