Last Chance To See 600 sq mi: Hidden
Missed Connections: Gefilte Fish...and "Chain Connections"
H-Town Rock
Rock Talk, Vol. IX
Over 20 years ago we all collectively asked, "Where's the beef?"
But today, in an era of advanced technology, Houstonians are left to ponder alternative queries, such as “Where's the free wireless Internet?”
We live in an era where automobiles can parallel park themselves. We live in an era where our televisions can predict what type programming we might enjoy and record it for us to watch at our own leisure. We live in an era where any buffoon (like a former member of a boy band) with millions in the bank and an itch to travel can fly into outer space.
Yet free wireless Internet in the space capital of the world is but a mere pipe dream.
Sure the city of Houston has plenty of other achievements about which it can boast. Who wouldn't be proud with this laundry list of accomplishments:
We are a national hub for the oil and gas industry.
We were voted 2008’s best city to live, work, and play in the nation.
We are world-renowned for our wide array of restaurants.
We are the core of the aerospace industry.
We are the unofficial strip-club capital of the country.
We have the sixth cheapest condoms in the world
But we're left to ponder why the nation's fourth largest city, with over 5,000,000 citizens, is behind the times with regards to free Internet access in comparison to much smaller towns with less to brag about.
In the past 24 hours we conducted a whirlwind tour of the East Coast, which included trips to Pittsburgh, PA and Charlotte, NC. During this trip we experienced the type of service we have long yearned for.
Yesterday morning we awoke in Pittsburgh and found ourselves early for a meeting in the heart of the city. With time to spare, we took a seat in a downtown business park and fired up our laptop. Imagine our surprise when we found a wireless network labeled “Free Pittsburgh WiFi.”
Upon connecting to the network we learned that all of downtown Pittsburgh was wired for Internet access. The cherry on top of this proverbial sundae was the fact that the city offered two free hours of web surfing a day to any and everyone. Should one require additional time to browse the web and check e-mail, a nominal fee was required. For the next 60 minutes we found ourselves checking in for our later flight to Charlotte, responding to e-mail, and paying bills online.
Downtown Pittsburgh. Will you marry us?
Later that afternoon, as we rushed off to the airport for a meeting in Charlotte, we again powered on our notebook computer, only to learn that the Pittsburgh airport offered free Internet access to all users for any period of time. The same held true at Charlotte’s airport.
Two townships, whose combined size couldn’t touch that of Houston have surpassed the Bayou City when it comes to Internet technology.
As Tony Kornheiser would say, “When did that happen?”
It’s high time our wonderful city of Houston caught up to such smaller municipalities and offered free Wi-Fi throughout all of downtown as well as both airports.
Cheap condoms AND free wi-fi? Now that’s really a city in which to live, work and play!
Photo: flickr user dro!d
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Hell, I´d be happy to wait on being able to access free wi-fi if the city would at least get the crime under control. I´m just sayin...