In my most recent trip, the broadband available at the hotel I was staying at wasn't really broadband. Or at least it wasn't reliable. I ended up using a Sprint AirCard 595U to get online, which was far more reliable.

I wasn't trying to use Skype like Dan York was, though. On one of his recent trips, the moment he fired up Skype, he dropped offline! The reason? The "intelligent" hotel network saw all the connections opening up from Dan's machine. It viewed that as a threat and locked his machine out.

When you don't publish the specifications for your protocol and design them in a way that most applications typically don't act, it's no surprise companies are going to find a way to block it. Meanwhile, end users are just trying to get stuff done and are ignorant of all these underlying issues.

Here's a nice idea: use defined, standard protocols. Don't make up your own. Or if you use your own, document it so people and companies know what their up against. Allow people to work with you instead of against you.