Internet At The Show???

[MVJ]

Just wondered what the general experience everyone had at the show Exhibitors & Visitors alike?

I was in room 227 at the end of a corridor and did'nt have any issues at all although I did'nt stream only used my phone & ipad.

 

[vinyl4ever]

I had issues sporadically throughout the weekend, at one point my (Streaming ) amp started connecting to someone playing (streaming I assume ) Michael Jacksons Thriller at around 120dB !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

We thought we had a ghost

 

[rab1991]

I couldn't connect to the network on either of the 2 laptops I had with me, however my phone connected so had to use my phone as a WiFi hotspot. Had no other issues really apart from for about 10 minutes or so tidal would struggle to stream max resolution stuff.

 

[Mike2000]

Whilst I didn't stream there was a very weak signal in room 132

 

[MVJ]

Whilst I didn't stream there was a very weak signal in room 132

I did'nt look to see how strong the signal was in my room it worked perfectly throughout our stay.

 

[Ady]

I didn't stream in room 110, but my new phone got no Wi-Fi at all whilst in there. Obviously it was a good signal in the Tarleton Suite as that is a conference room.
Cheers Ady

 

[JackoUK]

I brought TP-Link MR3020 and a bigger brother RE700X range extenders.
Powering these up in the hotel lobby at a distance of 3 feet, before having access to a room, and looking for their SSID on 2 different windows tablets ...
... neither appeared on the network list: only HiBarnsley, EPOS and hidden ...
... until I tried again in room 226 later in the day.

In the meantime I thought I could help with TerryG1's Bluesound Powernode setup: a trivial 2 step operation. All attempts to connect failed.

On to a ZEN MkII in 226.
This did eventually connect via the RE700X but not by the vendor's method (much checking for IP addresses on smartphone required) and operation sporadic.

On Sunday the connection to the ZEN was occasionally hijacked.
One such (cough, cough) when a visitor asked to hear Thriller.
Eventually achieved a modest 100db sound pressure.

Another time our ZEN connected to another ZEN somewhere!

My semi-educated guess is that too many people are trying to use tightly-overlapping wireless channels, hence the hijacking. Really needs an expert to design a robust operation
... which I think we do need ... after all, service streaming and high-res radio are becoming more mainstream. Depending on cost, maybe even https://www.bytesdigital.co.uk/sectors/temporary-event-wifi.

 

[Lurch]

I had issues sporadically throughout the weekend, at one point my (Streaming ) amp started connecting to someone playing (streaming I assume ) Michael Jacksons Thriller at around 120dB !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

We thought we had a ghost

If you were also running a Wiim device (I had a Pro for occasional use) then T'was you that was also polluting my world with your music choices on Saturday. I finally sussed what was happening and made sure I selected my specific device before occasionally searching for a track/album then hitting play. Was vinyl only Sunday barring the 1st 30 mins whilst waiting for peeps to come in.

 

[Burning Sounds]

Room 131 - used Qobuz via JRiver on a small fanless PC several times on Saturday night and Sunday and all was good, no drop outs or stuttering.

 

[Cambs12]

On my Mac laptop I got about 200mbps in the lobby, and around 65mpbs in my room at the end of the second floor.

Event wifi sounds expensive, and if it starts putting the price up for everyone, regardless of whether they use streaming, this may put some exhibitors off coming.

It should surely be easy enough to download music from Tidal/Spotify/Qobuz before leaving for the show, to be played through a laptop or phone/tablet into a dac. Or music stored on a memory stick. If you then get a strong signal, that's a bonus.

 

[rabski]

One-off event type wi-fi would be far too costly. You can't look at 'small event' setups, as these are intended for open areas. With the hotel, you have a large building, with loads of concrete and existing wiring, all of which will hit signal strength badly.

Download and bring your own is foolproof. You can use a phone as a hotspot, but the personal cost of that will depend on your data plan. I could have done that, and I had a very strong phone signal. I just reckoned using CD only was a far easier bet.

 

[Lurch]

I reckon that possibly the cheapest option to ensure there are no problems is a PAYGO 4G router and a 30 day rolling sim, then all the bandwidth for it is yours with no other bugger messing with your tune choices.
I might consider this option one year if I decide to take the ZenITH which is hardwired only. However l was more than happy with the wifi into my Wiim Pro with CD quality tracks, 24/48, 96 & 192 were a bit hit and miss though.

 

[bencat]

As I have said on another thread I had no real problems just a single turn it off and wait thirty seconds then turn it on again . One option I did have was to bring an iFi Bluetooth if I could not get the Wi-Fi to work then I could connect my laptop to to the iFi then digital out in to the system . As I did not need it I lent it to Terry and it sounded spot and he used it for the show .

 

[Tony_J]

I brought TP-Link MR3020

I bought one of those to use at the Stoke show last year & it worked well. I had it set for WISP mode and used my mobile phone hotspot to provide the external (ISP) connection. The only drawback was that I either had to leave the phone in the room all the time or the connection was lost every time I went out of the room. If I'd thought about it in time I would have brought a spare phone that could be left set up as the hotspot. A cheap data SIM, such as a Giffgaff SIM with a one-time "goodybag" of suitable size would have done the trick.