As you may have noticed, lately I've tended to report problems with low signal strength at most of the sites I've recently visited. When I realized I was seeing them at more and more locations where they had never been a problem before, I began to suspect the problem might lie a bit closer to home-to wit, with my aging laptop computer rather than with the networks themselves. That suspicion grew to a near-certainty when I started seeing only one or two bars from my home access point in the next room.
Well, I was right.
One of the antenna wires on my built-in Wi-Fi adapter had chafed and come in two, and after jury-rigging a quick repair, I'm happy to report that I'm now receiving the expected "excellent" signal strength rating at home. So...assuming the laptop holds out long enough (as you might expect, it's long out of warranty and has more of its days behind it than ahead, and it wasn't in the best shape even before my amateur surgery), I'll try to make a return trip soon to as many of the locations where I've had trouble lately as I can, and report the results here.
And while I'm here, a little more about AT&T's free access between now and Christmas. First of all, the offer isn't valid at any McDonald's restaurants. Sorry for forgetting to mention that. Second, I made a second trip to the Mid Continent Public Library's Blue Springs South branch, and while there are a few available power outlets against the back wall (look under the windows; there are also chairs and at least one table adjacent to them), I didn't get enough signal there to stay reliably connected even with my USB adapter connected via an extension cable, which leads me to believe that a return visit with my newly repaired laptop wouldn't be particularly fruitful. If, however, you're going there anyway and don't plan to stay any longer than you can work on battery power at the tables up front, it might be worth toting your laptop along.
And while once again I stress that play-for-pay is really off-topic here, I feel I've got to comment on something. In addition to the library, I stopped at a bookstore with an AT&T hotspot hoping to perhaps cool my heels in the cafe for a bit and use the coupon code to check for any updates to my anti-malware programs while bringing my battery back up to full charge. Well, I could have settled for two out of three if I'd wanted to; there were no power outlets anywhere-not just in the cafe, but anywhere else in the store, as far as I could see. Now isn't that just ducky? Pay $8 a day for Wi-Fi, and only get to use it for as long as your battery lasts!
I can understand a free hotspot-particularly one that would be hurt by large numbers of "campers"-wanting to turn customers over by making them go battery-only, but if you're play-for-pay you don't have that excuse. You're partnering with someone who's taking money in return for something, and you have a shared responsibility with that partner to deliver it.
And speaking of that partner...shouldn't someone at AT&T be looking into this?
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