After dropping my son off at football practice, I attempted to work at Panera Bread for a bit today but the wifi was horribly slow. Sadly, my tethering was unable to bail me out this time because of the poor connection my phone was getting. I packed up and drove down the road to the library. Been meaning to try it anyway.
It's a nice new library. Very modern with all the newest amenities and in great condition. I attempted to use the wifi but it required a username and password. I inquired at the 'Information Desk' and was guided over to another desk to get a library card. Signing up for a card was in itself inefficient, as I had to both present my driver's license and enter the information from it onto another card. Really?
Once I had my new library card, with a password (never had a library card before that required a password) I went back to the information desk. Here I was told that I now had to get signed up for the wifi into a different system and then, an even more bizarre process was explained to me. But as I went off to the computer lab to begin the process, I was told that, by the way, the wifi probably isn't working. I could have used that information 15 minutes ago. She said she'd check and I went to the lab.
As this bizarre process continues, it is required to sign into the network on their computers the first time. To do it, you must enter your library card number and the password. After you do, it asks you to enter the password two more times. Then it asks you to accept their policy. Upon doing so, it tells you your account is inactive and that you should see someone. But I was warned this would happen and that I should "simply" start the process all over again. It requires doing the same thing two times.
So once again, I enter in the library card account number and my password. Then enter the password in again twice, then accept the policy. Finally, I was active. I could end the session, gather my laptop bag and find a place to work.
I sat down in an area that seemed very quiet (but wasn't long before someone was carrying on a phone conversation loudly, while pacing back and forth behind me) and opened my laptop. Afer connecting, I of course had to enter the library card number yet again, and the password. Viola! I was in.
Too bad after all that work the top download speed was 1.8mb. Sigh. It's 2013 and we still have poor wifi speeds and convoluted registration processes that combine paperwork with multiple computer systems that don't talk to each other?
Guess I'll write this quick post and then make do with poor download speed, and try to get some work done. Oh, one moment, my phone is ringing...(pause)...and that's a wrap. It was my son telling me football practice ended an hour early and it's time to pick him up. After all that, I used the wifi for 10 minutes.