Networking in SF hotels?

Tuesday, September 18, 2007 by Dave Winer.

Here's a problem that some investment dollars help solve. 

Apparently, the TechCrunch 40 conference isn't streaming to the outside world because the Palace Hotel has incredibly lame networking, and they won't allow conference promoters to bring in more wires? This is what I hear, although it's not confirmed. Emails to the conference promoters yesterday were not responded to.  

I've also received emails from a number of companies announcing products at the show who want coverage on Scripting News, so my interest is not entirely idle.  

So what does it take to establish one hotel in SF as the default tech conference hotel? Networking! Geez, you'd think it's obvious by now. We do things that require networks. Look in any conference room around the world for a clue. And supposedly San Francisco is the central node in the network of technology bringing all this great stuff to the rest of the world. 

So where is the hotel that gives us the very most basic technology to wire up conferences so that the whole world can participate?  

Do we need to move the tech industry to another city? 

Someone please ask the Mayor or Google or someone in charge when they're going to fix this problem. It should have been solved in 1997, and it's already 2007.  

BTW, here's a clue: there are some great business opportunities, beyond conferences, for the first physical location in downtown SF to solve this problem. Just ask Loic.