First, let me say again how cool it is that Portland has city-supported, free WiFi. The Internet isn’t just a toy, it’s a tool. Making it available to everyone is super.
For “power users” like me, MetroFi’s service won’t be replacing my current providers, nor stop me from going to coffee shops with their own connection. It’s a pretty lousy browsing experience for anyone who is used to zipping along, especially using multiple tabs. This is probably perfect for those who check their email once per day, or just get on to check the weather.
MetroFi slaps an advertisement at the top of every page using a frameset to plant the real page directly below the banner. That this service is ad-supported is what makes it possible, but this specific implementation slows down browsing. Worse yet, when I Ctrl-click / Apple-click to open a link in a new tab, some MetroFi Javascript takes over and redirects my current window to the new page. I end up with two copies of the same page, unless I quickly hit escape.
I cannot access sites that try to break out of framesets. MetroFi notices and redirects to their page with a frameset. Then the site tries to break out again. It’s an infinite loop, as the power struggle continues.
It’s not all bad. MetroFi’s service will work for most users, though they may be disappointed by the speed. Despite my problems with the frameset, I’m pleased to see that MetroFi has gone to lengths to preserve URLs.
The best part to me is feeling more connected. Here I sit in my favorite non-WiFi coffee shop and I’m able to hop on to answer a question, send an email, or write a review of a so-so service*.
For months, I’ve gone to Marsee for a bagel and coffee. I’ve read the newspaper or put pen to notebook. It was a pretty neat realization a couple weeks ago that I could also open my laptop.
*I feel like I should mention that MetroFi offers a premium, non-ad version of the service. For $19.95 per month, it’s less than most other broadband options. My guess is that it would also solve the problems I’ve outlined above.
What about Firefox’s Greasemonkey extension? Can’t you zap the frameset (or at least the offending javascript) with it?
Good question. I’ve never played around with Greasemoney. Maybe this is a good excuse?
If you have access to any sort of tunneling (ssh) it will get around the ads. It works, I use it…
Google web accelerator might work as well, although I have not tried it.
http://webaccelerator.google.com/
Maybe next time i’m in MetroFi’s covered area, i’ll bring my laptop. If you don’t beat me to it, i’ll see if i can’t come up with a script to deal with this. Breaking tabbed browsing is a big no-no in my book. š
Oh, and you might try using the Platypus extension in combo with Greasemonkey. The potential for these two is huge, but i haven’t quite got the hang of using Platypus just yet. A bit unwieldy still.
You say: “Despite my problems with the frameset, Iām pleased to see that MetroFi has gone to lengths to preserve URLs.”
I’m using MetroFi in Sunnyvale, CA, and I agree that preserving the URLs is key, or you can’t bookmark. Unfortunately, at least here, they aren’t really preserved, much of the time.
They do MUCH better than they did a year ago. But, depending how you got to a page (e.g., directly, via a simple link, vs. some kind of indirect link implemented via javascript), the URL displayed by the browser may be incorrect, and both bookmarking or reloading the page fails.
The URL that browser is really pointing to is, of course, always really a page at MetroFi. But there appears to be some javascript which does some kind of “replaceURL” function with the one that metrofi thinks is correct. But they don’t always get it right.
That’s interesting, Wally. Thanks for a view from a different MetroFi. I imagine I’d find more problems with it if I used it more. As I said in my post, it’s not access I would ever want to count on.
WOULD LIKE TO CHANGE INTERNET PROVIDER.COULD YOU
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