In Orange County, and No WiFi??
Apr 14th, 2008 by msdanielle
Everything was planned out this morning for my day which included finishing packing and working for a solid 4 hours before my flight. I figured I’d work remotely at John Wayne airport but that wouldn’t be the case, my friends. I went on their site for information. Remote parking…check. Cost?…$12 a day…check. Shuttle to airport…check. Ticketless boarding pass…check. Wireless internet……….hmmm…nothing.
So I call John Wayne airport to find out that they don’t have wireless access anywhere on site. What the?? Really? I thought this was the Orange County airport! I began to panic slightly as I didn’t want to work from home and have to sit in traffic on the 405 freeway at 4:00 in the afternoon. I’d rather shoot myself. Anyway, I remembered when I donated to the OLPC foundation, T-Mobile included a free year’s worth of internet access at any Hot Spot location, so I activated it! This means I wouldn’t have to pay for my 4 hours of remote work just to be close to John Wayne. Woohoo! You’re probably wondering why I haven’t activated my account yet…well, I just forgot. 
So here I am working at Starbucks down the street from the airport. Yay! The inconvenience of not having wireless access at the airport won’t stop me from getting work done nearby. Do any of you think it’s odd that John Wayne airport doesn’t have wireless for its travelers? Have any of you run into this kind of problem when traveling for business? I’m sure there’s always a place and a way to pay for internet, but who wants to do that? 
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I wonder how many new people you’re gonna meet today
in starbucks?
I’ve never had a problem getting WiFi at an airport, although usually it isn’t free. I travelled through six different airports within one week earlier this year and all had WiFi but none were free. I used the WiFI in each airport so I probably ended up spending $60-$70 just for Internet usage.
that’s interesting, bc if they did offer paid wireless i’d probably have paid it. so i guess in this particular case it was good for me since i took the initiative to activate my free t-mobile account! wow 6 airports and all paid… would it be beneficial for you to invest in a hot spot account? if i end up traveling a lot next year, i might consider paying for it…came in handy since the airport doesn’t even offer wireless access!
Are you at the starbucks @ main & mcarthur? Holla! That’s the starbucks I work from after work while I wait for that damn 405 to clear.
i started off at the one on hutton, and was there for 2 hours when i realized you can only park there for 1 hour
i heard people talk about cars getting towed… (freakin orange county!) so i did hop over to the one on main for a couple hours as well! i’m so glad i don’t have to do that commute down the 405 anymore…
If you travel often, EVDO rocks. I get service through Verizon, and I always get in speeds in the 1mbit range. See my short review at http://ggee.org/blog/2007/06/16/verizon-evdo-reva-review-mobile-broadband-is-here/
Hotspot accounts are awesome as well… just remember to VPN to a secure site to protect your privacy
haha i really wonder if starbucks can see an opening in airplane business. You know what i think is even more weird that there wasn’t a starbucks inside the airport, with wifi.
This one is comedy gold. I have to fly out of SNA too and I think overall my experience of this OC area is bizarre and most of all….EXTORTION. As if they would go broke if they let you park for a reasonable price now and then and how much is it for a glass of water in an airport these days like 10 bucks? Ha-ha. I didn’t know about the wireless thing, but this is a funny story. Good old John Wayne. Cheers, sis.
ok if no one will reply yo my ridiculous posting, then I will! HAHA. you are strange SIR!
Think its a mix, paid / unpaid. Of course if you get upgrade to business class you get it for free in the lounge… though personally I preferred the free booze