WiFi in Louisville

[papimom1492]

Will WiFi be available in the bead sale room?
Joan

[Kendra Bruno]

Hi Joan,

Yes, WiFi is available in the Bead Bazaar room - that's Exhibit Hall 1A, Front. The facility is the Kentucky International Convention Center.

The rate is $99.95 per day, per connection and can be used throughout the Convention Center (only).

You can sign up via your wireless device when you are there.

Thank you,
Kendra


PS - Also, a reminder that internet is FREE in your Hyatt hotel room. No daily rate to be paid there.

[Dogmaw]

It would sure be great if it was!

[Debby_Weaver]

I have an iPad with 3G (at&t service) and the Square. I am wondering if that will work in the bazaar area. Any way to find out before that morning?

Debby

[Kendra Bruno]

Debby, I am sorry but there is just no way to guarantee that your iPad and Square will work.

Here is what we can say - I have used my iPhone, without WiFi all over that convention center, including Halls 1A & 1B. I have used it for both telephone and email/web Internet service. The majority of the time, it has worked well with no problems. But there have been times when I had very slow or no service at all.

However, a good example of a similar situation is the convention center in Milwaukee, where Bead&Button is held and where we just were in June. I have never had problems with reception there for phone or Internet in the many years I have attended. This year however, it was terrible. I tried to use Square and although Square came up quickly, processing was incredibly and terribly slow. I really don't think it was Square as I have used it in some very remote areas and it was fine. I even considered buying the WiFi for a day and paying the price, until I found out it was not my phone...there were many people on the show floor who had the same problems - Internet service was terribly slow in processing and it made Square slow. Not a problem with Square...a problem with Internet service.

I helped many friends process back at the hotel, away from the convention center.

[Kendra Bruno]

Sorry, I had to start a new post to continue...please read the post above first.

I know that people in Milwaukee did make it work. Processing was slow, quick, good, not as good and some just ran charges as I said, back at the hotel.

We have free in guest room service this year at the Hyatt, but we have not been able to get that with the convention center. Many people were able to use their devices in Rochester last year inside the Bead Bazaar with just their service and not paying for WiFi. We just cannot say for certain it will work in Louisville without paying the fee.

Let me go back to the Tech company that handles the service for the convention center again. Let me see what happens. Give me several days after the holiday weekend and I'll post here again.

-Kendra

[Debby_Weaver]

Thanks, Kendra, that was what I was afraid of. I am still carrying my old merchant service and may use it if I can not get a reception on my devise. This will be my first show with the Square and I was reluctant to give up that service until I did a show inside a convention center.

Wonder what other people who use the Square do under these conditions? Since I am not that familiar, I don't know if you can take the card information and enter it later - like processing without being able to swipe. But you wouldn't have the signature either??? Does someone have a solution for this?

Debby

[AngieRamey]

Debby, I've got a knuckle buster ordered for our chapter table....just in case. That way we'll have a hard paper-copy with signature if we can't get signal for our square. Then after the bazaar, we'll process sales through manual input. The rate is about .75% higher to do it that way, but it sure beats missing a sale!

[Kendra Bruno]

Yes, you can manually process in Square. I believe the fee is 3.15% plus .15 cents per transaction and not 2.75%, etc.

You can also pay the fee for WiFi in the center for that day.

I am going to see if we can get the WiFi fee down in price, but I am not tremendously hopeful for that...we will of course, do our best and post here when we have more news.

Service without the use of WiFi is a bit of a question in many locations and especially inside some convention centers now.

As we noted, it can work, but it can be slow. It can also not work at all.

Thank you.

[BarbaraSvetlick]

Will the wireless credit card terminal work in the Bead Bazaar? We use a Nurite with the Square as backup. Also...how far is the convention center from the hotel, are they connected or do you have to go outside and is there early set up or just the morning of the show set up?