I like a little girth to my beer and tend to drink darker beers. Coors Light is the beer I’ll drink when I want the flavor of beer but not feel the full effect of a real beer. A couple weeks ago MGM Resorts announced that would be offering free wifi across all of their Las Vegas properties. At first I was stoked…you know me, I love free wifi. Here’s the headline:
Eight MGM Resorts offer free Wi-Fi on the Las Vegas Strip
Great! I spend a lot of time on the Vegas strip and offen grab free wifi to do a couple hours of work. Unfortunately the free MGM wifi is like a light beer and may not be so useful for people like me.
Basic internet access is available with the system for anyone located in public areas such as the lobbies, pool areas, casinos, and restaurants at the named resorts. Use of the internet service will not require a password. Hotel guests will get an upgraded service as part of their stay, and convention attendees or others in need of more bandwidth can upgrade to top internet speeds for a fee.
The new system is expected to be up to 30% faster…
The free wifi service being offered by MGM Resorts is a throttled wifi service. The MGM Resorts free wifi for the public will be 70% of the speed that hotel guests or convention attendees will get with their resort or convention fees. If you’re just stopping by one of the MGM properties you’ll be relegated to the slower speed.
The free MGM wifi isn’t useless. The free wifi at MGM Resorts properties will be good for checking email at speeds quicker than 3G but not for people that are wifi bandwidth hogs like me. I’m a multi-tasker that often has multiple tabs open on a web browser while instant messaging, uploading photos, downloading a podcast, etc. so the throttled speed isn’t perfect.
The wifi speed will be sufficient for most people using mobile web or email but I don’t see the MGM wifi bringing me into their properties to grab a lunch and do a little work. It’s unfortunate, because I’m always looking for an excuse to spend time at Bellagio. I’ll stick with the hotels that offer full access to their wifi connection like The Venetian.
If wifi at 70% speed is enough for you then you can access it at Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Mirage, and MGM Grand right now with New York-New York, Monte Carlo, Excalibur, and Luxor coming on board later this year. I believe Aria has been offering free wifi since it opened.
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We really don’t do anything more than check our emails a couple of times a day, so this is perfect for us. And since the MGM Grand is our “default” hotel, it should work out well. I have not yet had to do any work during my trips to LV and I hope it stays that way. It’s nice not to have to mess with the wifi situation in those hotels.
It’s probably fine for 90% of people. Like I said, I’m a bandwidth hog. 🙂
The good thing if you’re staying at the property is that your in-room wifi speed can now be used anywhere, which is nice.