When I am in Toronto, I usually stay at the Sheraton Centre. I do this often enough that I have a Starwoods Platinum card, which means that I always get access to the 43rd floor club lounge (with a great view, btw).
About a year ago, they wifi enabled the lounge. I’ve been noticing over the past 6 months that the morning breakfast crew, mainly business travelers, are increasingly bringing thier laptops up and going online.
3 weeks ago I watched a guy watch espn headline video over his browser. The ironic thing was he was sitting 15 feet from the TV screen displaying the ubiquitous but dry CNN feed. But, he didn’t care, he wanted to watch the sports headlines, he had a broadband feed, so he did it. Just to test it out, I proceeded to do the same thing. Clear video, good audio, adequate quality.
Got broadband? Watch what you want when you want.
This morning, there were a group of Israelis in one corner. While I was grabbing a bowl of blueberries, I heard a distinctive “ring ring” sound that any Skype user would recognize. What followed was a 25 minute long conversation in Hebrew. I asked a collegue of the guy, “Skype?”, nod of head yes, “To Israel?”, nod of head yes, “it’s changing the world”, nod of head yes. 25 minutes, and no landline, wireless, or international carrier got a penny. And, the sound quality probably exceeded what they could provide.
Got broadband? Talk to whomever you want to, wherever they are, at great quality, for free.
IP Communications … changing the world. If you’re into this stuff and want to talk about it, come to David Isenberg’s Freedom to Connect. I’ll see you there.