Convention Center WIFI for E3?

By Eric Richardson
Published: Wednesday, May 18, 2005, at 02:39PM

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Via blogging.la I noticed this report on gaming site Joystiq. One thing stuck out to me:

We have arrived. The E3 exhibit floor opens in just 30 minutes, but we’ve already been gouged, first by the nice gentleman in the parking lot nearby ($40/day) and then by the providers of the WiFi access ($25/day) in the cafe where we now sit with the rest of the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed journalists, fans, and industry folks.

I thought to myself “Why would you pay for wifi when I’m pretty sure the convention center offers it free?” The various LA Inc. sites gave me very little in the way of documentation, but the Convention Center’s ad in the recent Downtown News development section included this:

Cutting-edge telecommunications and award-winning wireless Internet system, ensuring fast and easy links from clients’ booths to anywhere in the world.

So what’s the deal? Am I remembering what I read on those big pillars incorrectly? Is convention center wifi not free? Did they turn it off for E3? Not being an attendee I doubt I’ll discover the answers on my own, but I figure someone else has to know.

Update (Thursday): Sean Bonner confirms via photos that the Convention Center wifi really is $25/day. Yikes.



Comments

1
Nic Cha Kim writes:

Conventions are notoriously expensive to participate. I remember when I worked a convention in Vegas, it cost $75 just to be allowed to have your own candy dish. You weren’t allowed to bring your own candy dish. You had to rent theirs and hire a union laborer to walk it over. And that cost $75.

Conventions are all about business, so it makes sense that they’re really trying to squeeze every dollar out of everybody.

While in Vegas a couple weeks ago for the National Association of Broadcasters, I was in the Business Center at Ballys… this gentleman walks needing to fax a document. When asked for $9 ($6 for the first sheet and $3 for the next), he complained about the cost. “Why do you charge so much?,” he asked. “It’s company policy,” replied the employee. “Do you still want it?” The man replied, “I have no choice.”

So there you go.

# on May.18.2005 AT 03:48 PM
2
Eric Richardson writes:

Yeah… I know I remember walking through the convention center and seeing big signs about it being a wifi zone. Perhaps it is that they’re just charging an arm and a leg for it, but you’d think in that case the report wouldn’t make a big deal of people being huddled in a cafe. -e;

# on May.18.2005 AT 10:09 PM

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