Symon Chalk

East Sussex

IT Consultant

I do a lot of IT work for hotels and restaurants and am constantly amazed at the appalling standards of access point installations. At one hotel, in my home county, a well-known telecommunications company who is in partnership with the local council offered to install wireless networking for a reasonable (albeit discounted) fee. The hotel owner agreed and was walked through the details of how much he'd make from selling the access cards. He was happy with the deal so the provider went ahead with installation.

I was on-site a few days after the service went live and couldn't believe the "system" that had been installed. A WAP and firewall, connected to the hotels existing broadband service, had been propped next to the photocopier in the back-office, providing coverage in the reception area and, er, that was it... I pointed out to the hotel owner that the installation was unprofessional and virtually useless and, more importantly, was using his broadband connection, he shrugged and said he was happy with the money he was making off selling the cards, which he had to buy in the first place! All in all the problem is a combination of poor standards of service by the providers and a lack of interest (profit aside) by the hotel owners/managers, which is tolerated by far too many people - if no-one complains, there and then to the hotel, then nothing will ever change.