canadiancow

I think it tells you that you have bronze, but you get silver (if you click through another page, that's what I saw, and what other people here have experienced).

So it's not that you aren't getting silver, it just isn't presenting accurate information at first.

ffsim

This. C'mon, it's 2013. If MLLs think it's important to offer workstations and power outlets for free, then they should think it's important to offer a decent high-speed internet connection for free. Until they start charging for larger workstations by the cubic metre or extra power capacity by the Watt, they shouldn't nickel-and-time web access.

Cr@p, now I've given them something to think about...

JTXC

It should be gold for revenue J. It must be challenging to set up a system that offers three different speeds.

xLuther

duplicate

astroflyer

You've probably hit the nail on the head there. You need fancy routers, servers, and IT admins to administer this kind of thing. I'd be willing to bet that they spend as much extra on this system over a basic system than the additional revenue they bring in.

I for one am not willing to buy up to a higher speed without an explicit promise of what that speed will be.

hjohnson

Especially when the free airport wifi is usually faster.

Stranger

Folks, I suspect we are not really dealing with "enhancements," but just technical issues. Standard as to AC IT.

Today: I log on in YYC, no problem, works reasonably OK.

I get to YYC, try to connect in the lounge. I just get connected, no need to enter my Aeroplan number etc. Except, it's so slow as not to be workable.

I suspect I just go on a previous connection using the same port, which was a low speed one (read: so slow as for practical matter, being the equivalent of not working.)

I ended up connecting on the YYZ Amex-paid "free" service. Which seems OK.

IluvSQ

Well, however much we btch about Data Valet, it is 100 times better than the WIFI
at the PVG lounge. Sitting there now, cannot connect to wireless no matter how many
times I try, go to the desk, the girl says " Do you have Windows 7 or Vista ?- it does not
work with those." Huh? This is 2013 boys and girls. And we are not all Macophiles.

I finally got connected by unplugging the cable from one of their computers in the F
lounge, and plugging it into mine.

tyberius

Guys, you really can't compare a WiFi access point that's shared with a hundred people against your home cable / fiber / ADSL line.

You're being capped for a reason, so a couple of jerks don't go and suck up all the bandwidth leaving nothing available for everyone else. As with any "free" resource, if you give unfettered access someone is going to be "that guy" who makes the point "this is why we can't have nice things."

If you really need to upload 100MB then the MLL is not the place you should be doing it anyway.

Being able to sustain a Skype voice call is about all you can fairly / reasonably expect out of a lounge WiFi experience. Read your email, watch a video, make an emergency call, the bandwidth is sufficient for that (when it's working right).

DataValet has not been one of the big issues I've found with AC personally and I'm a tech guy.

Rowat

Tyberius -

I don't think I agree with your home vs public access argument. There are plenty of public venues and spaces that deal with significantly higher volume than the number of patrons in a MLL at any given time and deliver excellent high-speed internet. And this didn't start as a complaint about the internet being slow in the lounges, but essentially unusable in the number of cases that I posted earlier.

With regards to your comments about a few jerks hogging all the bandwidth - that is why they have throttling software installed so that a few folks cannot bring the network to a crawl for everyone else; so your comment I don't think really applies in this instance because that potential abuse issue is (I am assuming) already managed by the network. And the resource isn't free per se - you have to be in/near the lounge with login credentials. I would be very surprised if most lounges even break 100 concurrent connections at any given point.

I think where you do hit the nail on the head though is "when it's working right", and I think based on peoples' experiences and posted bandwidth up/down numbers that it often isn't working right.

A half-hour Skype call is going to use roughly the same amount of data that I am talking about (100 MB - http://community.skype.com/t5/Other-.../td-p/897886); and watching videos (if you are streaming) is going to thrash the bandwidth even more.

Uploading or downloading 100MB is totally negligible for most systems (in fact, a 56k dial-up modem was 4x *faster* than the connection I experienced), so I think that is a moot point. The fact that AC installs desks, workstations, faxes, printers, etc means that most of the lounges are places that have been designed with work in mind.

What I think we can all agree on is that the speed and service are hugely variable and that can be very frustrating when you are counting on it to get some work done.

sulfur

I tried today @ YVR domestic MLL. With E50K I only got bronze. Ran 2 different speedtest tools from my iPad & only got about 600kbps down & 100kbps up. Not impressed but it's good enough for checking news & emails.

Granted there are probably 20 other folks on the wifi at the same time. But I did run the tests about 5 times.

ffsim

Unless something's changed, you should get Gold as E50k, not Bronze. Did you ask the MLL attendant about it?

astroflyer

Didn't need to log in today. The MLL lounge attendant fell into the generally clueless category.

sulfur

Let me check YQR & YYC on my return this Fri. I don't ever remember getting silver or higher.

Perhaps this perk does not apply to early recognition folks?

ffsim

Ah, that could be it. It wouldn't surprise me if the system doesn't "realize" you're E50. FWIW I've had Gold access ever since they implemented the system. I was E last year.