The other week an underground fire in Manchester left mN (and many others) without any Internet connection for almost a week. Rather than have withdrawal systems it was actually quite liberating. No longer did I feel the need to check my email every few minutes — and any rate, most of what I get is the usual Viagra, mortgage deal, African money laundering variety anyway. There was no option but to, well, do some work.
But eventually I needed a connection to try out some stuff I was working on, so off I went to the local Starbucks to see if they still had a connection available, which of course they would charge totally over the top rates (just like those gits at BT Openzone) to use - latte making bastards. As it turned out their connection was down anyway, but as luck would have it I picked up another Wi-Fi signal - and this one was totally free. It would kick you off after an hour, but then you just simply logged back in again and away you go. Eventually I figured out that it was somewhere near the Town Hall, in Albert Square. If you sit on one of the park benches just outside the Town Hall you can get a really strong signal. But even better - if you sit at the front of Starbucks opposite, you can drink your skinny double decaf hold the whip cup of joe and get enough of a signal to surf the net for free!
Popularity: 7% [?]
this may be of interest as well: http://www.manchesterwireless.net/
…and if you park your car in front my home over here in Pendlebury, you’ll get decent signal from my network as well (but you’ll have to get your own coffee, i’m afraid)
patrick h. lauke / 29/04/2004