secret internet access

[john84601]

It's a difficult situation. I think the only good reason to limit access is if 'recreational' use is eating up bandwidth needed by 'legitimate' users (i.e. clerks or maybe instructors streaming videos for classes, etc., etc.). In the age of BYOD, I think maybe the church underestimated how many people would try and attach to the WiFi in the buildings. I do expect that bumping up the speeds in all of the chapels in the US would be a significant cost to the church. In the end, I expect that budget is the real culprit.

I would agree however, that your ability to get a password should not be influenced by 'who you know' or your ability to 'convince' someone you need it.

[quintonrhq]

A secret is something you tell just one person at a time.
Controlling the password in a near public space is a futile effort.

[gregwanderson]

Last month all the relevant hardware was installed in our building. A week later the Bishop recieved an email from the stake presidency giving him the password and telling him to pass it on to the members. The wording of the email seemed to indicate it was for everyone. So we printed it in the Sunday bulletin (just once). Didn't change the world for us. I suppose if you don't treat it like a big deal then the members won't either. Maybe we don't have a ton of people here who care to use their mobile devices at church anyway. But I suppose the implied message to the members turned out to be "Hey. We have wireless Internet in the building it you want it. If you feel the need to use it just ask someone in the Bishopric or one of the clerks for the password. No big deal." And it isn't.

[sueallen]

Maybe it's because we are in Silicon Valley, but the church recently upgraded all the wireless access points in all the buildings in this area and published the password to everyone. It works at my son's ward in Mesa, AZ, too.

We did have to ask SL to increase the number of IP addresses assigned from the Access Point. It was originally set at 50, and leases lasted 7 days. Morning ward was OK, but when afternoon ward showed up and everyone turned on their smart phones and iPads during Sunday School, the allowed leases ran out. I think they upped it to 150. Probably still not enough in Palo Alto.

All kinds of stuff is blocked, though. The most frustrating is that you can't get church videos, because Youtube is blocked! You also can't Sync LDS tools -- have to do that at home. Yeah, my husband checks his email in Sacrament meeting.

[gvogel]

I used to be frustrated with the number of people using tablets, phones, even laptops during Sacrament meeting. As a clerk who takes attendance, I've seen it all. I've changed my attitude about it a bit though: If Bro. Jones is attending more often because he can use his "comfort device" who am I to be critical? Of course many abuse it, and I don't allow my children to play games or other distracting activities...but when I look over and see them reading the scriptures on their device during a talk that isn't applicable to them, I'm not too worried about things.

There is a woman in our ward who works for a company who builds "mega-church" buildings around the country. She says their big thing is equipping them with the latest Multimedia and A/V gear. She says it really helps keep the younger generation interested in attending, she hopes we will follow suit, and to some extent I agree with her.