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May 22nd, 2007

An Open Letter to Nomadix

Dear Nomadix,

Hi there. First, thanks for providing WiFi to places that might not ordinarily have it at all. It’s a nice thing you’re doing, “creating value” as you put it.

But I must complain about your crappy, crappy routers. They are crappy. Here is why: almost every 5 requests I put out for a web page are met with your “You are being connected…” page. This page apparently tries to open a pop-up window, helpfully (?) telling me that I am connected to your service. The thing is, I block all pop-ups. I don’t need them; they don’t need me. But if I don’t unblock them in Firefox, it causes me issues. I have to resend the request. That’s super!

Worse, this sometimes breaks things like flickr uploadr (already a not-too-great piece of software). And right now for instance, I can’t use your connection at my hotel because – ready? – it’s “full”. It’s full. That’s like saying the internet is down for cleaning. I know it can happen, but this is silly. It was fun when I decided to come to a local Panera Bread for breakfast and found that they use your crappy services too.

Here’s what you need to do. Stop it with the pop-ups, and offer beefier routers. If you choose not to do this, there’s one thing you should change: the “You are being connected…” page. Oh, I don’t mind seeing your ugly and meaningless logo there – that’s not it. You typoed the name of your own company on this page. Opps.

Unwilling customer,

Paul

Posted in Technology

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