Monday, December 02, 2013

Starbucks Trump Plaza Boardwalk Wi-Fi Review

Yesterday, I drove to Philadelphia and Atlantic City so, I could visit the Hard Rock Cafe's there. I wanted to get them added to my Hard Rock travel map and get closer to earning my first reward for visiting so many different cafe's. You get the first one when you visit 10 different cafe's.

While in both cities, I visited Starbucks so I could use their free Wi-Fi to post updates on my travels on Facebook. For me, the biggest reason I visit Starbucks is because of the free Wi-Fi. I have to use Wi-Fi to access the Internet when I use my Nook e-reader. Accessing the Internet this way is way easier than carrying my laptop around. I use a Sprint USB modem I own to access the Internet on my laptop.

I thought all Starbucks shops offered free Wi-Fi barring the small ones in airports as I found out in the Miami airport. To my surprise, the one in Trump Taj Mahal doesn't have Wi-Fi (according to the lady who was working behind the counter). So, I went in search of another Starbucks. I figured there had to be another one some where in Atlantic City.

To my delight, I found another Starbucks at the Trump Plaza Boardwalk. They confirmed they have free Wi-Fi. I tried connecting and, it requested a password. They told me the password is starbucks (makes sense). I entered the password and, my nook e-reader waited and waited and waited and waited for an IP address that never came. I asked the folks there what might be the problem. First, they said try turning the Wi-Fi off and on. It didn't help. Then, they suggested I completely shutdown my e-reader and bring it up. That caused me to get constant Wi-Fi errors stating that the network was overloaded and, I couldn't connect. The people at the Starbucks assured me their Wi-Fi worked but, I was never able to connect there. Later, a saleslady at the Under Armour Outlet store said she'd had the same problem. As luck would have it, there is a Starbucks at 120 North Michigan Ave which is less than a block from the Under Armour store. I tried to connect to their Wi-Fi and, my e-reader connected immediately. Also, I didn't have any problems connecting to the Starbucks Wi-Fi at the Philadelphia shop on 12th and Maple (I believe that's the address) I visited. Because I didn't have any problems elsewhere and the lady at Under Armour experienced the same problem, I have to believe there is some kind of problem with the Wi-Fi at the Trump Plaza Boardwalk. I definitely wouldn't recommend the place because of this.

Note: there are Starbucks located at the Showboat, Caesar's, Golden Nugget, The Borgata, Tropicana Casino and Resort and Tropicana Marketplace which MAY offer Wi-Fi. As I didn't know about these other locations, I didn't visit them to try them and see if they offer or how well the Wi-Fi works at these places.

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