$51.80 A Day For Internet Service

For the long Easter weekend, I took team Henderson on a little road trip to Niagra Falls. We stayed at Embassy Suites Niagra Falls – Fallsview, not a five star hotel brand, but a solid brand for a family retreat. So I never would have thought getting an Internet connection, correction, a wireless Internet connection, at an Embassy Suites would have been problematic. However, among other issues (a condescending front desk clerk, wireless connection only in the atrium area of a 42 story hotel, just to name a few of the other issues), the hotel's procedures does not allow for a guest to connect more than 1 device wireless without ponying up an additional $12.95 for the additional device. So for my family of four traveling with 3 laptops and an iPod Touch, the cost for Internet service would have set me back $51.80 per day ($12.95 per device per day to allow for simultaneously wireless connection), if I allowed everyone to have wireless Internet access. So is $51.80 the going price for wireless Internet access when a family of 4 travels? If so, I'm in the wrong business.

If you think the $51.80 Embassy Suites was asking me to pay for my family of 4 would never happen for a business traveler, not so quick, Grasshopper. Let say two healthcare professionals attend an out-of-town training class. Because of their institution's travel policy, they room together. In addition, each employee has a laptop and an iPod Touch loaded with medical apps. That’s 4 devices among the 2 of them needing wireless wi-fi access. If this training class is taking place at Embassy Suites Niagra Falls, it would cost them $12.95 per day per device, in other words, $51.80 per day for Internet service the same as I would have paid for my family of four to have wireless Internet service.

Yes, I know there were ways I could have circumvented the process and got everyone wireless Internet service with only incurring the $12.95/day charge, i.e. an Apple Airport Express would have worked nicely in this situation. The point here is, currently in healthcare IT we’re fighting over EMRs, EHRs, and PHRs standards, Google and Microsoft fighting the government over HIPPA privacy laws for their PHR apps, which mobile healthcare apps really add value, and the list goes on. However, the real question is, is the basic infrastructure needed in place and easily accessible to fully utilize and leverage the things we're currently debating? I understand what happened to me at Embassy Suites isn't the typical "textbook case" of broadband inaccessibility, and my theoretical scenario is just that, theoretical. But what it does highlight, broadband Internet service is far from being a commodity service. In order for healthcare IT to deliver on the projected efficiencies in the healthcare industry, broadband must be easily accessible under all, except the most far-flung, scenarios just like broadcast television and telephone service is today. Do you really want to receive a call every time a physician and/or other healthcare personnel you support needs help setting up an Apple Airport Express in their hotel room?