Well, I’m back after an interesting weekend. In between the beer and bikes, I had the chance to speak to some of the MCN website users face-to-face over a pint and chat about the experiences they’ve had with the redeveloped site…

As always, as much as I like it when they echo my own thoughts, it’s even better when they point out something I hadn’t considered, or challenge the way I’d be thinking about things…

That’s also what one of my colleagues managed, within five minutes of arriving. After five years of the event at a Butlins resort, I was resigned to getting the key for the internet cafe in the morning, when my colleague expressed her shock at the fact we couldn’t get a wireless, or even wired, connection in our apartment…

I know that wifi is slowly making it around the major cities of the UK, but I wish it would get a move on, and it still surprises me that any hotel etc doesn’t have it readily, and freely available. After all, the only revenue it might affect is that of the Pay-Per-View films late at night, and certainly I’d choose a hotel with free wifi, over one without, or one that charges an exorbitant fee.

It would also make public transport, such as the UK train network more bearable, if only they’d stop trying to eke out more cash for the same thing I can get for one flat rate at home.

Maybe there needs to be more integration between home wired Broadband and wifi access
etc by ISPs that aren’t British Telecom. After all, I wouldn’t pay more for a call on my mobile because I’d left the house, was on a train, or in a hotel…