Even $137,500 Can’t Guarantee Conference Internet
Le Web, the annual Internet trade show and conference in Paris spent $137,500 (100,000 Euros) trying to get a stable connection for their speakers, attendees and press room without luck.
This continues to be a major problem for show organizers. I’ve ranted about this so much I’m not sure I have anything left.
Current solutions simply aren’t working. What’s it going to take to make things change? If throwing $135k at the problem for a two-day event doesn’t solve it, I’m not sure what will. My guess is that in order to get a stable, fast WiFi connection for 700 simultaneous users would cost upwards of two million dollars for a two-day event.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:38 pm |
We (Eclipse) had excellent experiences with SmartCity at the Santa Clara Convention Center. For a lot less than $135k, they provide stable, fast WiFi for ~700 simultaneous users at EclipseCon each year. (http://www.eclipsecon.org/)
I agree that most places have lousy wireless, so I just had to put in a plug for SmartCity – I don’t own any stock – just a satisfied customer. (Even our attendees agree, see “wifi was awesome” at http://www.eclipsecon.org/2006/SurveyResults/summary.html)
July 17th, 2009 at 4:40 am |
Bjorn are one of the few to get decent internet out there. They are infamous for their levels (lack there of) service. They are even more infamous for prices. Normally, a net related conference can expect to pay $10-20 per day per attendee for internet. I have heard of some conferences with 2000 attendees being served bills in the $40,000 range.