Nathan's Occasional Blog

Man 1: So, how do you like your laptop?
Man 2: Oh it’s nice.  I just got it over the holidays.
1: Isn’t that wonderful.  What kind is it?
2: It’s a Toshiba.  I have a Toshiba TV, so I figured I’d give this one a try.  I got it at Best Buy…

Wow.  So that’s how the “real world” chooses a computer?  Folks I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried – I just overheard that in a hospital waiting room.

Speaking of hospital waiting rooms, I’m not sure when this post will actually get published.  You see the hospital I’m at today doesn’t have WiFi available for public consumption.  Oh they’ve got a WiFi network, and I seem to be sitting within inches of an access point judging by my signal strength, but the one network they have is locked.

Come on folks – provide public access!  Overlake Hospital Medical Center in Bellevue, WA provides campus-wide WiFi for guests … free.  It was AWESOME to be able to get online when Alicea and Kaitlyn were in the hospital last year.  Sure, they’ve got an encrypted network too, but providing guest access is essentially free for them.

Why?  Because pretty much every enterprise-class access point these days supports multiple SSIDs (wireless networks) with independent security and independent network connectivity (using 802.1q VLAN tagging on the wired port for those of you who understand what I’m talking about).  The point is it would take them an extra 5 minutes to set up a guest network on their existing infrastructure.

A hospital runs in the hundreds, if not thousands of dollars per day for room and board alone.  I’m sure they can shave off a few pennies to provide a valuable service to their guests and patients.