Why-Fi at O'Hare

By Matt Wood in Miscellaneous on Oct 3, 2006 2:24PM

If you're in a fix at O'Hare, trying to email that presentation to your boss before your flight takes off, don't get your hopes up. Turns out that the Wi-Fi there sucks. The Chicago Department of Aviation is fielding complaints about customers unable to sign on, getting kicked off the network once they do make it, and flaky, unreliable service. An O'Hare tech support rep said that the system is a "beta site," a convenient excuse used by computer folks for years, and blamed much of the trouble on the heavy traffic at the airport. Although it probably gets less traffic, Midway's network has garnered few complaints.

Personally, Chicagoist avoids using Wi-Fi in busy public places like airports or Starbucks because they're about as secure as a kosher deli in Tehran. But we do frequent some locally-owned coffee shops with free internets, and we definitely notice a drop in service when the place is crowded. Have any of you guys used the Wi-Fi at O'Hare? Is it worth $6.95, or did you even care because you put it on the company tab?