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Baltimore Inner Harbor To Go Wireless
An anonymous reader writes "The City of Baltimore has made free wireless internet available in the Inner Harbor in hopes of bringing in more tourists and business conventions. According to this article on Sunspot Internet service will be available free of charge to portable computers from the Baltimore Science Center to the World Trade Center along the touristy waterfront. Need to check your e-mail when sailing the Chesapeake Bay? Just dock at the Rusty Scupper and whip out your laptop."
Otakon always holds its conventions in Baltimore Inner Harbor, just off the waterfront. This would be nifty for running portable netcams and updating weblogs/fan pages with details about fanmade works and cosplay.
I mean, if you're going to geek, geek out fully, right?
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
Just in case you're thinking of going out to try this, Baltimore's Inner Harbor is notoriously expensive and you will be paying for access, just not to an ISP.
At most garages, it costs more than $10 to park, the restaurants in that area serve tasty but expensive food, moderately overpriced shopping stores surround consumers, and random Orioles fans, despondent over the team's performance, may accost you at any time in that area.
You would be better served going to Fells Point and playing video poker at any one of the dozens of bars.
There is a World Trade Center in Baltimore. Which is the world's tallest pentagonal building.
Right now it's closed for a month because of flooding caused by the hurricane.
--
"What do you want me to do? Whack a guy? Off a guy? Whack off a guy? Cause I'm married."
I've lived in DC for four years. I've been to Baltimore many times during that stretch (a couple times a year), but I haven't made it to the beach once.
Baltimore has a great aquarium, the (currently closed) B&O railroad museum, Fort McHenry, the science museum, and on the waterfront a lot of shopping and restaurants. I've also gone to Baltimore to see shows like Penn & Teller. There are plenty of things to do in Baltimore.
So, I would go to Baltimore before the beach. Even without free wireless, which is irrelevant since I don't have a wireless network card and my laptop is too old to run one.
(And I love beaches, too.)
--RJ
Last time I checked (about 6 months ago) I think it was like that. I just looked it up now; if you sign up for a 12 month term, it's $30/month for unlimited access. If you go month by month, it's $40/month.
Even if you pay the $40/month, you have to pay a $25 "early termination" fee if you want to quit after less than a year. There's more fine print here than a typical MS EULA.
They also $10 for unlimited access for 24 hours, or 10 cents/minute on a by the minute plan. Even that has a catch though...60 minute minimum charge, so you're out $6 as soon as you check your email.
My broadband account is only $40/month for month by month service and I certainly spend a lot more time at home than at a coffee shop. For how little it costs to set up a hot spot, starbucks could do it for free for the people paying for those coffees.
As I said, I don't have a wifi card for my notebook, but if they'd offer a reasonable service, I'd buy the card just to use the service and I'd go to starbucks everyday. Instead I go out of my way to go to Tully's or SBC (the other major chains in Seattle) just because of starbucks wifi.
Being a long-time resident of Baltimore, I must point out that the crime in the Inner Harbor is not as bad as you think during the day. I'm not sure if I'd use it as a safe spot at night, but for standard touristy stuff, it's fine.
I like the idea of free wi-fi. Go to (Hooters|HRC|whatever) grab some food, find a nice spot to sit down outside, and surf the web while enjoying a decent lunch. Combine that with a few fun attractions (boat tours, science center, ESPN Zone), and it has the makings of a fun day out that doesn't require you to give up all contact with the outside world.
Why you're bringing the laptop on a fun day out is beyond me, though... sometimes, we should just unplug, I think. Maybe it's for PDAs with wi-fi (and lots of batteries)?
-Erwos
Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
Oh yeah... I think it's 1024 bit encryption, or something as ridiculous. Either way, I'm working with a very very large merchant bank, and I trust them to handle the encryption end of it, since they'd be liable if something went wrong.