Ho John Lee’s Weblog

Some notes on network access during this most recent trip to Hawaii… This was a vacation, so I didn’t spend much time with the computer, and even less online. However, I did take a few notes.

The Westin Maui has free broadband service included with the rooms. (Well, actually, it’s bundled into the $18 daily resort fee). There also appeared to be wireless service of some sort available around the pool and lobby areas. I didn’t try this myself, leaving the notebook packed up except for checking e-mail once a day. There were a few people at the hotel who were either there for work or just couldn’t bring themselves to unplug, they seemed to spend most of their day sitting around outside with their computers. There were also a surprising number of people plinking away at their Blackberries while sitting in the pool.

At the Westin Maui, there is no charge to use the broadband service, but you still need to click through the service agreement and it manages the access in 24-hour chunks from noon to noon. Their system runs via a captive portal application which traps DHCP/DNS/HTTP requests to redirect new users to their registration page. The physical installation appears to use Cisco Long Reach Ethernet technology, including an RJ-45 plug at the end of a cable on the desk in the hotel room, so you don’t need to bring your own. The network there assigns real IP addresses, such as 12.36.110.76, which is registered as 1028host76.starwoodbroadband.com. Ping times to the continental US are something like 80-100ms.

Conveniently, they do not block port 22 so outgoing SSH connections work, once you have used the web interface to enable the network access. Once the service has been enabled for the current 24-hour period, it appears to keep the DHCP lease in place so you get the same IP address if you re-establish the connection during the same period. Unfortunately, the network access needs to be authorized using the web interface each time a device connects, so you can’t just put the notebook in standby and pick up where you left off later on. This might also make it a little tricky to use a VOIP adapter like a Sipura or Cisco ATA.

When we moved on to the Moana Surfrider (on Waikiki beach), I was pleased to note that they have finally gotten wired for broadband service to the rooms. It looks like they are using the same physical networking technology in the rooms at the Moana as at the Westin, but unfortunately, it currently costs an additional $12.95 per day at the Moana. If you have access to the small SPG lounge, they provide free computer and internet service, but I didn’t bother going up. There is also a wireless broadband service available along the beachfront called AlohaZone, operated by Hurricane Internet at $10.00 per day. In our particular room, facing the beach, there wasn’t a strong enough signal for a stable connection, although I could see multiple access points while running Netstumbler and holding the notebook up to the window in different directions. A small external antenna would have worked, but this was already more effort than I was interested in, so I stayed completely offline while at Waikiki.

Other notes on network access at Maui and Waikiki:

There are several internet cafes in the Waikiki resort area, in addition to the wireless service. These are within walking distance of the Moana Surfrider hotel and other in the vicinity.

At the Westin Maui, there was some sort of internet access kiosk in front of the business center. Other than that, the nearest internet cafe I saw was in Lahaina, about 4 miles from the Kaanapali resort area.

Cell phone coverage at both locations (Cingular/AT&T) was excellent.

So — the Westin Maui looks like a pretty good choice for a working vacation or retreat. Networking at the Moana Surfrider is workable, but not quite as convenient.

For this trip, I wanted to mostly stay unplugged and enjoy the stay, and can easily recommend either the Westin Maui or the Moana Surfrider for a vacation in Hawaii.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 5th, 2005 at 12:18 pm and is filed under Travel, Wireless, Personal Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.