First off, the family is ok and it is not an emergency.

I brought my laptop in to the waiting room instead of leaving it in the car. I asked if I could use my laptop and they indicated it was fine. I was surprised to open the laptop and see a "For public use" network. Is this a trend? Signs everywhere to shut off cell phones but wifi doesn't cause equipment interference?

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I'm surprised it's free. Don't be surprised in a couple of weeks when you see that your insurance company gets billed $2000 for it.

Not at the hospital where my brother spent three days fighting for his life last September (everything turned out OK). It was a relatively new hospital, too. I give them credit for at least having Ethernet jacks in the waiting room -- I was able to access the Internet and research my brother's condition in that manner.

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It is what it is.

It's a full signal and I have moved to various parts of the building so I think it is intended for broad usage.

N-OS X-tasy!, glad things turned out ok.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/2007 12:55PM by pRON aHOLIC.

Wireless at one of our local hospitals, but I wouldn't call it free - wife's bill for one night, half day - $45,000.00, plus doctor bills. This was for a heart condition...stent implanted.

We had free wi-fi at Swedish Hospital in Seattle. It was nice to be able to email pictures
of our new baby from our recovery room.

One of the hospitals here has free wi-fi in the whole place. Very nice.

The two hospitals at which I work (Dana-Farber and Children's Boston) both have free public WiFi throughout. This was rolled out during the last year or so.

buddy works at dartmouth -- wifi in the entire building -- he listens to others music via itunes sharing =)

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

Maybe the IT department slinging around a couple hundred 30 GB MRI files (not sure how big they are) on a daily basis figured that offering a 50Kbps link to patients would not be noticeable.

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In tha 360. MRF User Map

It isn't an RFI issue with cellphones in hospitals, it is a loudmouth insensitive jerk issue. Honest.

Free at the hospital where i was a patient for a week, but perhaps not public. Had to ask, and got a network name and pw. Don't know if they hand it out to anyone, though.

The Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN has public wifi throughout the campus including patient hospital rooms.

Here is a recent article how cell phones don't significantly affect medical equipment during normal use.

[www.mayoclinic.org]

OTOH, the company I work for is in the process of designing and installing a WLAN at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, one of the largest hospitals in Southern California.

Sign o' the times, methinks.

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It is what it is.