Skype, Witopia in Paris Pullman
 

I'm a fairly tech savvy guy (in my own mind, at least). For the past couple of years I've worked around the Pullman blockage of Skype over wifi by bringing along my own router or plugging the ethernet cable directly into the computer.

I haven't been here for about 6 months though, and tonight the ethernet cable is dead. And not dead as a dead cable, but as in the computer, router, everything sees a connection but it no worky. They have turned off the access from the ethernet cables in the rooms.

And it seems that the Pullman has gotten fancier with their wifi blockage - it not only blocks Skype but also VPNs. I tried to get a US connection via Witopia over wifi and never made a connection.

So anyone else experienced this yet? Any ideas? I've got a long layover here and would like to call home at least once without getting gouged.

Thanks, and sorry to take everyone away from the cargo cutout outrage.

OK the VPN is working now via wifi, so that problem is temporary.

Gmail Phone
 

Have you tried Gmail phone? It's free to call the US and Canada from anywhere in the world. Just sign up for a gmail account. When you visit gmail.com. You'll see a green phone icon on the left hand side. Click on it and a dial pad will pop up. First time users will need to download the free google voice plugin. Takes only 30 secs. After that you'll see the dial pad and dial away. Area code and phone number of any phone cellular or land line. You can use your laptop speaker and built in mic or you'll have to plug in a mic if not built in.

Had the same problem getting WiTopia to hook up at the Concorde La Fayette. Couldn't get it to connect until I tried a server using TCP 443, then it worked. You may try that next time. Not sure why, but they seem to be trying to block VPN access quite a bit now.

RE: at the Concorde, if you are using Witopia the PPTP connection always works reliably. Sucks in general though, esp. at those nasty Pullman joints with their 200 mb cap. BTW.. at the Eiffell one we stayed at temporarily they would give me as many of the wifi code sheets as i asked for..

FWIW 443 is secure http, i.e. https vs http on port 80.

Try this "old school" solution. Go to the bar, have a couple drinks, don't call home from Paris, wait to the next layover. If that too has Skype issues, return to the bar and discuss options. If need be, blame computer/ Fedex/internet/ Bill Gates/Obama/Gingrich/your Capt{FO}, etc, etc... you get the picture. Wait till you get home, family will have more (interesting) stories to share when you get home.


Already done. Have moved on to AOC pizza :D

To revive an old thread...
I checked into the Bercy Pullman yesterday and they told me the free wifi was now awesome, no need to buy the 9€ 'upgraded' version.
Now, I will say it was OK/pretty good, but it was not steady, which is not good for streaming video. I ran speed tests and found that download speed was 1 Mbps, while surprisingly, upload was 2 Mbps.
I called downstairs to see how to upgrade. The guy asked if I had a laptop with an ethernet input. He said it would be much faster than wifi. I tried it (and later with airport express) and found download speed was now 37 Mbps while upload was 59 Mbps!! Wow!:D
BTW, Witopia works well here, as does Skype.

I just left the Bercy, and the internet, both wifi and wired, was completely dead.

The hotel says they are working on it.

We submitted about 15 POR's over a period of 5 days for the horrible internet at the CDG Marriott. It seems they put some significant pressure on iBahn (which sucks), and they have seemingly fixed the issue. I would suggest a POR for the Bercy Pullman, I would've done it but thought it was just bad for the one day I was there recently. I will fill out a POR next time.