Symbol Technologies handed out 11mbps wireless LAN cards like
popcorn at Networld+Interop and set up free wireless access points
throughout the Georgia World Congress Centre.
The wireless technology, based on the 802.11b standard, was set up
by Symbol Technologies in conjunction with the show's organisers. A
company spokesman said the wireless products vendor wanted to give
attendees the experience of using wireless systems inside a large
facility.
Tests showed that the wireless connections were easy to set up and
performed well. But many attendees said they couldn't be bothered
with installing the drivers for the wireless cards and relied
instead on dial-up connections.
The Networld+Interop network went down briefly on 12 September,
temporarily disrupting wireless connectivity. But technicians said
the outage was caused by someone tripping over an optical cable.
